Heaven Baek

, ,


Heaven Baek
http://www.heavenbaek.com

heavenbaek@hotmail.com



Education 2009 Master of Fine Art, Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow
2006 Bachelor of Fine Art (Media Arts), RMIT University, Melbourne

Group Exhibitions
2011 No-excavation No Excavation, Art space Pool, Seoul
2011 Waya 2ri, Ssamzie Nonbat Art Center, Heyri Paju
2010 none the less the same, Litmus, Ansan
2010 Mixed media art & Performances MooA; exhibition7-Nomadic circus K , Guro Art Valley, Seoul
2010 Raw in a restless point, Moin, Seoul
2010 Stranger than Paradise, Litmus, Ansan
2009 Set it up and go, APS artnews projects + Twinspace, Berlin
2009 Degree Show, Tramway, Glasgow
2009 Members Show, Transmission, Glasgow
2009 Just Work Done, 134 Renfrew st., Glasgow
2008 Interim Show, Mackintosh Gallery/Newbery Gallery, Glasgow
2007 Assemble, Assembly Gallery, Glasgow
2007 Boys Girls Machines, Capitol Theatre, Melbourne
2005 Non-linear spaces Group Installation, RMIT University, Melbourne


Group Screenings 
2009 kunstfilmtag, Malkasten, Düsseldorf
2009 Kingdom of Muin, CCA(Centre for contemporary Arts), Glasgow
2009 Zahnlucke, CCA, Glasgow
2009 DES ANIMAUX, CCA, Glasgow
2008 Pivo de Essential, CCA, Glasgow
2008 VIDEOHOLICA 2008, Art Biennial, Sofia,
2008 Rotten Mushroom Heads, CCA, Glasgow
2008 Tristar, CCA, Glasgow
2008 Read Your Tea Leaves Carefully, CCA, Glasgow
2007 Selected Video Screening, CCA, Glasgow
2007 This is my head, CCA, Glasgow
2005 Dotmov: experimental screening, Loop Bar & Art space, Melbourne


Public Art/Offsite Projects and Performances
2011 Rivers of the World Project, British Council, Seoul (Also
 upcoming performances at Hi Seoul Festival)
2010-2011 Timing workshop with 
Doosan Primary School, Sin heung Primary School, Geumchun youngjae childcare centre, Local childcare centre 
(through October 2010 to January 2011), Geumchun art space, Seoul
2010 I just wanted to know how you doin Project, Ansan
2009 Naechon Neobne Pumkin festival, SSamzie nongbu Photostudio, Hongchun
2008 'The Golden Fleece' Auction, McLellan Galleries, Glasgow
2008 Open studios and NotYourAverageEveningEvent, Glasgow International Festival of Contemporary Visual Art (GI), Glasgow
2007 Double Happiness, Ricefield Gallery, Glasgow
2006 Australian Air, Hongkong/Seoul


Residency & Awards
2010 Geumchun Seoul Art Space residency Seoul
2010 Community Space Litmus Young artist, Ansan
2009 Ssamzie nongbu Artist Residency, Hong Chun





I have researched the relationship and organizations among people, and I made a structural drawing of such behaviors, and reorganized them in a humorous way. Based on the social system, I established the contradictory meanings to coexist by naming words in my work: party as “to have fun”/ “political party,” and camp as “to go camping”/ “military camps.”


Location, starring Wongock-dong, Ansan South Korea













Performance as a Process, based on the Spirit of Play

Yoon Jin-sup(Professor of Honam University, Art Critic)


After majoring in media art at RMIT University, Australia in 2006, Heaven Baek returned to Korea around 2009 after receiving a master's degree at Glasgow School of Art. It was around then when I met her at the [PAN ASIA] held in Dongsung-dong ran by the performance artist Moon Jae-sun. At the time, while she was working for the event as a curator, she was also a resident artist at Ssamzie Farmer's Residency in Hong-Cheon, Gangwon-do. While I was skimming through her website to write this article, I found that she had an abundant experience of traveling before returning to Korea including Europe, Russia, Africa, Southeast Asia, etc. Especially, the journey from Glasgow, Scotland to Morocco to perform in the Sahara desert was impressive. The hands-on experience of throwing herself on unfamiliar foreign grounds was a drama in itself, and was filled with enough adventures to be called as a performance. The understandings of her art practice can be felt even more intimately when you consider the traveling experiences she physically had.

Heaven Baek is an artist who releases artistic ideas and talent to her heart’s content as a media artist and a performer. As seen in the most recent work The Agency, she focuses on the jobs and social phenomena unique to Korea, and grafting them to her art is a major part of her work. Some of her performance which has been recorded on video and edited continues to exist as a work of art. Some of these works are listed below :
Housewives Party, Single-channel video, 9 minutes and 50 seconds, 2010
Primary Party, Single-channel video, 5 minutes 59 seconds, 2010
What occupies your house, Single-channel video, 7 minutes 39 seconds, 2010
Factory camp, Single-channel video, live radio signal FM95.9 from nearby factory, 8 minutes 6 seconds loop video, 2011
Relations of whom may it concern 17-inch single-channel video projection, 2 minutes, 45 seconds, 2011
Besides these works, Untitled Drawing(2011) which was installed on a free standing wall then taken down, and the The Agency(2011) is the image for the actual business card sticker that was paste on everywhere in the city.

As seen in these series of works, Heaven Baek's subjects of interests are in relation to unique social phenomenon including immigration, multi-culture, reality of agriculture, political issue, privacy, and the military system. During the process of integrating these themes into her works, Heaven Baek creates them into the forms of games andplay. These forms are displayed from the focus on the double meanings within the language. For example, ‘party’ as the meaning ‘having fun,’ also has the meaning ‘political party,’ and conceived from this fact, it lead to the conceptualization of Primary party. In similar context, Heaven Baek is converting the use of the word ‘camp’ as in ‘fun camping’ or ‘prison/ military camp’, through researching factories, she is alluding the system to those both meanings. She reproduced this situation at the gallery and displayed a witty imagination by deeming the audiences as campers as well.

Unlike the functions of the Western private investigators, the Korean detective agencies are shady businesses receiving large sums of money to investigate unfaithful relations between men and women as their main line of work. Heaven Baek's The Agency does focus on the social phenomenon brought about by the duality of Korean society, however, from a more wholesome aspect of the work, the actual ‘The Agency’ was opened in Itaewon and operated for four months. The nature of the business kept all processes related to it as confidential, and is scheduled to be produced into a documentary video later on. Also, All the clients will come together to meet for dinner on Sept. 9, 2011 as the completion.

The works of Heaven Baek are mostly characterized by an ongoing process and takes on a form of a progressive performance. It has a game like framework, and the beliefs of the artist that art must be fun and that art has an integral relationship with daily life is ingrained in her work. Just as traveling induces interest and fun, her art is also simultaneously, a drama of life and performance with a strong artistic awareness.