KESSON

작가노트

나는 쓰레기와 폐가전을 로봇의 형태로 만드는 작업을 해왔다. 버려진 물건들이 내 손에 의해 작품으로 새롭게 태어나 행복하게 살아간다는 주제에 집중했고, 작품의 재료가 쓰레기였다는 걸 최대한 알 수 없도록 화사한 색으로 덮고 깨끗하게 마감하곤 했다. 그렇게 로봇이 완성되고 작품으로서 갤러리에 전시되는 순간이 그들이 재탄생하는 순간과 같다고 생각했다. 그런데 어느 시점부터 같은 물건이라도 누가 어떤 상황에서 어떤 생각으로 바라보는지에 따라 쓰레기인지 아닌지 구별되는 게 아닌가 하는 의문을 가지게 되었다.

누군가 신상 DSLR을 구매해 놓고 폐기물 스티커를 붙여 내놓으면 그것은 아무리 깨끗하고 잘 작동되더라도 쓰레기가 된다. 반면 수십 년이 지나 세월의 흔적이 묻은 필름카메라도 주인이 잘 사용하고 있다면 그것은 여전히 카메라이다. 나는 사람들이 쓸모 없어졌다며 버린 물건들을 작업실로 가져온다. 누군가는 쓰레기로 보고 내놓은 물건이 내 눈에는 작품의 재료인 것이다.이 사실을 인지하고부터 나는 로봇을 만들 때 그들의 이전 모습을 감추려는 노력을 하지 않게 되었다. 이번 전시는 이러한 생각의 변화를 반영하여 재건축 공사현장에서 분주한 로봇들의 모습을 표현하고자 했다. 쓰레기와 폐가전들은 내 손을 거쳐 완전히 새로운 존재가 되는 것이 아니라, 작품이 되기 이전의 자기 모습 또한 간직한 채 계속 살아가는 것이다. 몇 번을 다시 태어났다 해도, 조금 낡은 모습이라도, 온 몸이 상처투성이라도 얼마든지 새로 태어난 마음으로 행복할 수 있다. 그리고 행복의 결과가 아닌 과정 중에 있더라도 그 자체로 이미 의미를 가진다.오염되고 상처투성이인 것이 쓰레기라는 고정관념을 탈피하기 위한 것이라면 날 것 그대로의 모습으로도 충분하다.

Never died and never born

Chang, Seoyoon(Alter Sight Kesson, ART·PR Team Manager)

I once pondered reincarnation. They say your good deeds in this life will stack up and lead you to a better next life. But I don’t think you must die and be reborn with a different body to reincarnate. It is also reborn if I live a different life with a different mindset than ten years ago. When animals die in the wild and are buried under a tree, and the tree grows up to yield many fruits, it could be another form of reincarnation of that animal. FORI and I had the first exhibition together in 2018, and we shared the same thoughts about reincarnation. Back then, he explained, in his Artist note, the reborn as: “Certain traits of a being are a concept for a limited timeframe. A being is made of various materials and transmigrates to a different being when the limited time is up.”

FORI’s thoughts are in line with the meeting and parting of the four elements (cattāro mahābhūtāni). When a person dies, solid material returns to earth, the liquid returns to the water, the active qi returns to the air, and the warm qi returns to fire. Death means the parting of these four elements, which formed our bodies after the end of their time. The principle of life and death is to flow, change and return without pause, so some say death is not something to mourn about. The traits of materials run in a pack and are never alone. This is true for all living things and nonliving things. Even machines and trashes made to fulfill people’s needs are wasted after a certain period to be dismantled and selectively reused to be reborn like a robot. Even destroyed machines are dismantled and transmigrated to form a different body with other materials.

FORI began to have another idea. He began to think that the wasted materials from his art pieces were still alive. He thinks the materials are just in the progress of transformation. Even though the materials become a new piece, their past does not entirely disappear. He stopped covering his works with radiant colors. The materials never died and were never born; there were there the entire time. They may have scratches and marks, but they remain art pieces. This exhibition [Happy Re;Construction Day] displays the reconstruction site of these robots. We plan and expect changes at this time of the new year, and how would we feel if we saw the robots actively engaging in changing themselves and their ground. In 2023, I want to improve my current ground rather than move to a new, better place. I will stop thinking of the unplanned overseas business trip and focus on making ASK more delightful.

Artist Statement

I worked on making robots out of wasted home appliances. I was so into the theme of giving a happy, new life to these wasted materials by my hands, and I would cover the materials with radiant colors as a finishing touch, so no one could tell that it once was a waste. I thought these wasted materials were entirely reborn once they became robots and were displayed in a gallery. I began to believe that the standpoint of people looking at the materials determines whether it is a waste, and not me.

If someone throws away a brand-new DSLR camera with a waste sticker, it becomes a waste regardless of its condition. On the other hand, if an owner of an old film camera with traces of time still thoroughly enjoys the function, then it is a camera. I collect waste materials to bring them to my workplace. Someone may have thought they were waste, but for me, they were art materials. Realizing this, I stopped hiding the past of my robots. 

This exhibition displays the robots being occupied in a reconstruction site, reflecting my change of thoughts. The waste and the destroyed home appliances do not become an entirely new thing in my work; they continue to hold their past within them. It does not matter how many times they were reshaped, it does not matter how shabby they look, and it does not matter how many scratches they have; they are still happy as they are reborn now. Their reborn may still be in progress, but it is still meaningful. Warts and all should be enough to break out of the typecast that tarnished and torn-out things are waste.