An exhibition of Korean media art is underway in Marseille, France's southern port city.

The Future Is Now, a media art exhibit from Seoul's National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), opened at La Friche Belle de Mai, a cultural complex in Marseille, on Aug. 29.

To mark the years 2015-2016, the official year of Korea-France Bilateral Exchanges, the exhibit features 41 works of media art by 33 teams of Korean artists. The exhibition continues until Nov. 29.




Director Im Heung-soon, who won the Silver Lion for promising young artists at the 56th International Art Exhibition in Venice, is showing his work of art "Momento." It consists of two screens: one plays a video containing a series of photographs of Im's parents; the other narrates scenes from his family who gathered in a studio to take family photographs.

Moon Kyungwon and Jeon Joonho, who represented the Korea Pavilion at the 56th International Art Exhibition in Venice, are showing "End of the World," or "El Fin del Mundo." In their work, Moon and Jeon portray an artist who continues to work on his art pieces even though the world approaches its end, exploring the meaning of art.

Lim Minouk has introduced "The Weights of Hands," a road trip movie in which the artist captures video images of a group of people visiting the sites of the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project, a Korean green initiative, a series of abandoned docks and some apartment complexes, all as if they were on a pilgrimage.

Kim Kichul created "Sound-looking Rain," a work in which he recorded the sound of rain falling at the Jongmyo Shrine, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Seoul. A team called Everyware created a media art work titled "Memoirs," a fusion of emotion and technology.




Ahn Sekwon, Lee Ki-il and Park Junebum created different video art works that feature their own perspectives on Korean society. Oh Yong-seok and An Jungju came up with video and installation art works that portray history and wars happening all around the world that they tried to analyze from a social and cultural point of view.

Kim Soun-gui, who has introduced Korean video art and performances in France before, shows her early video work, "Molding Conditions." On the beaches of Nice and Monaco, Kim gave people colorful pieces of fabric and used them to make kites. Then, Kim taped the image of people flying the kites to create her video work. Kim also performed together with Lucien Bertolina, a French trombonist and composer, during the opening ceremony.




Finally, Alain Arnaudet, director of La Friche Belle de Mai, said he was impressed by the exhibit that shows the history of Korean contemporary art. Arnaudet also said he is glad that Nam June Paik's work is being shown at the exhibit, adding that its poetic, political and interactive qualities are very interesting and strong.

By Limb Jae-un
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos courtesy of the MMCA
jun2@korea.kr