WEBZINE ACC

Once reserved for Hollywood films, zombies have become mainstream culture in Korea, as witnessed in the K-zombie craze. How did the niche genre turn into a cultural phenomenon? Unlike their predecessors, zombies portrayed in today’s pop culture are more human than human, something that anyone can turn into. They also have their own narratives.

The ACC presents a temporary exhibition focusing on the symbolism of zombies in pop culture, based on research on contemporary Asian themes. The show expands the definition of zombies to include those who are the other to us, undead beings that anyone can turn into, and the anxiety of modern life driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and the discharge of nuclear waste. It offers reinterpretations of the imaginary creatures and their visual features, including through the use of symbolism and metaphor to depict reality.

The first exhibit visitors encounter is Kang Bora’s Asia-Zombie Chronicle, which revisits the changing depictions of zombies in pop culture. It is followed by the works of 10 individual artists and groups bringing their own take on the modern day monsters.

W Pandemic by Kim Bong Su

Webzine ACC sat down with two of the participating artists, Chuang Chih-Wei from Taiwan and Hikaru Fujii from Japan to discuss their work.

# Chuang Chih-Wei

Reborn Tree series: Reborn Tree (Gwangju) by Chuang Chih-Wei

• Tell us about your work Reborn Tree series: Reborn Tree (Gwangju) featured in the exhibition.
  When did you start working on this series, and what inspired you?

  A. I first thought about starting this work in 2014 when I was staying in Tokyo. I experienced the four seasons and the cycle of life that were entirely different from what I would normally expect in my homeland of Taiwan. I remember how a Japanese ikebana (flower arrangement) master described the art of flower arranging. He said, “They are cut from the earth in the dark, and these pruned flowers change when the sun rises in the morning, as they complete their most magical, beautiful moment.” I think this cruel, yet poetic description offers a new perspective about the rebirth and existential meaning of an object.

• One of your Reborn Tree series was exhibited at the Busan Museum of Art. What sets your work different this time?
  What special aspects did you have in mind when installing this piece?

  Unlike the last time where there was a tree dancing intensely inside a white cube, this time I worked with an open space, so I had to make some adjustments. I wanted the tree to illuminate the space softly. At the top, you can see a huge frame hanging from the ceiling. The plant slowly moves like a puppet, controlled by a motor. When you see the work from a distance, you may think that the tree is swaying in the wind. But as you step inside the frame, you will notice that the motor is causing the shadow on the floor to keep changing slightly. During the exhibition, the tree will grow and dry up, and leaves will fall.

• How do you feel about participating in this exhibition? Can you also tell us how the Reborn Tree series fits into this zombie-themed exhibition?

  I was thrilled when I received the invitation to join this exhibition. I found the zombie theme fascinating, because I am a huge fan of Korean zombie movies and drama series, such as Train to Busan and Kingdom. The concept of control is key to the Reborn Tree series. You can find similar descriptions of this concept in eastern and western mythologies and religions. The Bible says, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” In Chinese mythology, the goddess Nuwa blew a breath into a clay figure to give it life. Like a ray of morning light or changes in seasons, this breath motivates inanimate objects to come to life. The concept of waking up and being reborn continues across time and space.

Chuang’s Reborn Tree series borrows its concept from ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement. He attempts to give artificial life to a tree using a motor, just as a flower is granted a new life upon death. The eerie puppet-like movement of the plant is reminiscent of that of zombies who rise from the dead. The work invites viewers to reflect on the rebirth of a being that is alive but not alive like zombies and what it means to be alive.

# Hikaru Fujii

COVID-19 May 2020 by Hikaru Fujii

• Tell us about the works you submitted for this show, Les Nucléaires et les Choses and COVID-19 May 2020.
  What are they about, and what message did you want to get across?

  Les Nucléaires et les Choses is a documentary chronicling the recovery of a large number of collections left behind in museums located within “difficult-to-return” zones that were designated after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. It examines the crisis brought about by disasters and wars and its impacts on the way they are remembered. Another work COVID-19 May 2020 documents the temporary closure of the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo during the early phase of the pandemic. The museum’s gallery is filled with works that focus on political, economic, and environmental crises. The irony is that what these works depict - the warning against a catastrophe, violence against others, and the prediction of extinction - is perfected in the museum without any visitors.
  
  The cause of crisis was changed from nuclear threat to COVID-19, but the situation is similar to each other. I wanted to highlight that it might be effective to ruminate on past accidents to prepare for an unexpected future catastrophe for the mankind.

• We would like to hear about your work process.

  The Fukushima nuclear disaster that took place in Japan on March 11, 2011 was definitely a turning point for my work. Since the accident, my work has focused on documentation, rather than creation, in the form of cross-sector collaboration with professionals and citizens. I define art as creating this type of platform of solidarity.

• You are here in Gwangju for the ACC exhibition. What is your impression of the city?
  Can you also tell us about your plans for the next project?

  When I visited the ACC to prepare for this exhibition, I had a chance to see the legacies of the May 18 democracy movement. They were meant to honor the students and citizens who lost their lives by the military junta. I’m curious to know how the U.S. and Japan that were backing Korea’s junta at the time perceived this uprising. Japan was thriving on many fronts in the 1980s, but I think the contradictory relationship between this so-called “liberal state” and military regimes in several Asian countries during the Cold War era remains unaddressed. That is the topic I would like to explore for my next project.

Fujii’s work focuses on examining and giving visibility to invisible mechanisms and notions that govern our society. Les Nucléaires et les Choses and COVID-19 May 2020 are a critical take on the way modern society remembers and discusses a disaster. Both works do not feature zombies, but the disaster they depict may be a zombie in itself, as the artist hints at contemporaneity by presenting the way the disaster is being perceived.

Just a Zombie by Moon Sohyun

How will zombies - beings that are like humans, but inhuman - be portrayed in pop culture or visual art? How will humans co-exist with non-human beings in this post-human world? At a time when these questions are more relevant than ever, the symbolism of zombies offers a rich source of artistic inspiration.

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