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Are we being led into an unknown world? In the midst of the brilliant lights and magnificent sounds towards the center of Fantasmagoria, there stood a painting from 600 years ago. Masaccio’s painting made the illusion of human hands seem real. Painted on the wall of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, Italy, “The Holy Trinity” (1428, 667×317㎝) was the first painting that was created to look real when it is actually not. 600 years ago, the human desire was to be able to portray the time and space they were living in, yet now in the 21st century that desire has changed to the ability to create a fantasy world. What kind of world will we discover when we dive deeper into time and space to the world of endless infinite imagination? How vast is this endless world that humans want to show and discover? The “art” that will lead us to this mysterious, fantasy world before our eyes lies here.

Following the Light of the Spirit for a Glorious Journey

When I was young, I would shut one eye and peek into small spaces and a mysterious world would appear. The colorful patterns before my eyes would keep transforming, turning the narrow cylindrical world upside down. Did I ever think this kaleidoscope world I used to marvel at while turning it with my small hands would come to be a reality? The world in my imagination has appeared before my eyes. The tall and huge space of complex 1 has transformed into a fantasy world that transcends time and space. Following the small light that looked as if it was pointing to a small constellation in the dark night sky, we entered the theater’s entrance where the brilliant light of media’s new technology filled the vast space. With bright lights constantly twinkling beneath my feet, I could sense that a glorious journey was about to begin. With the magnificent sound echoing throughout this vast area of time and space and the spectacular performance of the robot, the vast world inside the kaleidoscope lifts us off our feet as if we were thrown off orbit. Art has led us into another time and space, even the senses of my small cells somewhere deep inside my body have come alive.

An Unknown World led by Media’s Ecstasy

There are 3 robots in the center stage of Fantasmagoria. In the underground space of the Asia Culture Center, the 6 years long hibernation of the quietly dormant robot arms was over. In this ever-changing day-to-day world, 6 years is a close but distant time. At the opening exhibition of the Asia Culture Center, “Pitaka” (2015), boasting its majestic form, delicately engraved letters of the Tripitaka Koreana. Leaving the quiet times behind, Pitaka was reborn with the Kinetic Media Platform Floating Frames. It is a combined system of the ‘robot arm’ and ‘display.’ The robot motion and 4k 85-inch monitor blend together in the center of the Kaleidoscope tunnel to make wonderful gestures toward the audience. The scene where 3 robots are integrated together like idol dancers provides an infinite sense of liveliness that cannot be captured by existing videos. Furthermore, the media's ecstasy draws out a sense beyond what can be seen with the human eye. The visual technology that almost replicates the complex functions of the human visual system such as being able to recognize time, space, and physical movement beyond what transpires in front of us, elevates the world beyond what we can see. Through the robot motion that moves as if dancing in the middle of the theater and the projection map that covers the entire space, this was not simply just looking through a Kaleidoscope with one eye closed, but a fantasy world where our entire body was transported.

[chapter 1] Running Women

[chapter 2] Odd Spheres

[chapter3] ‘Cosmos, Strolling Through the Universe’s Space and Time

Three Stories, Spotlighting Fantasmagoria

Fantasmagoria is divided into three chapters. Every hour on the 10th and 40th minute, a 15 minute video plays consisting of 3 stories. Chapter 1 Running Women : Moving Display Version is media artist Min-Ha Yang’s work. The flexible lines that flow through space fill this huge space. A real image, created from numerous mechanical vectors made up of mathematical physical algorithms, is broken down, recreated, and optimized into millions of moving lines that recreate the world of illusions. (*A vector is a physical amount that has size and direction). Chapter 2 Odd Spheres is a work created by the media art group team VOID that embodies the movement of spheres, cubes, cylinders, etc. based on the laws of physics. By following the images created by 3D motion graphics, you feel as if being sucked into a scene of a movie. As you go up and down the huge space you feel very immersed. Chapter 3 is ‘Cosmos, Strolling through the Universe’s Space and Time.’ The video content of the WTC (Walk Through Cinema) project, which was presented at the Asia Culture Center between 2017~2018, shows a huge epic poetry on the Universe based on the ‘COSMOS’ documentary from National Geographics. The 3 stories that consist in the fantasy theater features the 『Arcades Project』 under the theme of ‘Fantasmagoria’ by Walter Benjamin to carry out critical reflections on modernity and media culture within urban spaces and products. (*’Fantasmagoria’ is derived from the word ‘phantasma’ meaning ‘illusion’ and originated from the projection image in the French invention, the magic lantern, at the end of the 18th century).

It is up to the audience in the theater to determine where their reflection should be directed. Art with media technology actualizes a world of infinite imagination and brings us back to the space we occupy, the present, “here.” Meet and wish for another world from this trance in the journey of light, and sometimes go out of this current orbit! Sometimes let’s try to be the main character of Fantasmagoria, and sometimes let’s try to be the audience. what if it’s a fantasy? There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be allowed the time to deviate from our daily orbit a bit to taste just for a moment a bit of ecstasy.

The Way to Fantasmagoria

• Written by Hee-young Moon. moonhy19@fnaver.com
  Photo. In-ho Hwang. photoneverdie@naver.com
  
  2021.09