Works at: Seoul Art Space_GeumCheon
Stays in: 2014
Genre: Visual Arts
Website: http://www.min-oh.net/
Profile:
Education
2008 MFA, Yale University, Graphic design. New Haven, US
2000 BFA, Seoul National University, Graphic design. Seoul, KR
1998 BM, Seoul National University, Piano performing. Seoul, KR
Residencies
2014 Geumchoen, Seoul, KR (3 months, upcoming)
2011-2 Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam, NL
2009 Artists Alliance Inc., New York, US
Fellowships/stipends/prizes
2012 Arts Council Korea, KR
2011 Arts Council Korea, KR
2010 Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy & Korea Institute of Design Promotion, KR
2009 Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy & Korea Institute of Design Promotion, KR
2008 Elisabeth Kopf International Jury Prize in Ningbo International Design Biennial. Ningbo, CN
2008 Design Distinction in I.D. Magazine Student Design Review. New York, US
2008 Silver Cube in Graphic Design (Television and Cinema Design). 87th ADC Awards, New York, US
2008 Distinctive Merit in Graphic Design (Television and Cinema Design). 87th ADC Awards, New York, US
2008 Bradbury Thompson Memorial Prize. Yale University, New Haven, US
Selected solo exhibitions
2012 The Suite. De Nederlandsche Bank, Amsterdam, NL.
2011 How things genuinely speak, and sing. Kunsthalle Erfurt, Erfurt, DE; Onomatopee, Eindhoven, NL.
2010 A Dialog. Tripact, Amsterdam, NL; Kwanhoon Gallery, Seoul, KR; Space Hamilton, Seoul, KR.
Selected group exhibitions
2013 B B’ B’’, P.ART of you life, Zwolle, NL
2013 Modern Housekeeping. Eye film museum, Amsterdam, NL; Cinema Zuid, Antwerpen, BE
2012 Rijksakademie Open Studio, Amsterdam, NL
2012 Salon/Maastricht. Timmerfabriek, Maastricht, NL
2012 KAAP (former De Kleine Biennale). Fort Ruigenhoek, Groenekan, NL
2012 WinterSalon/, Museum Van Loon, Amsterdam, NL
2011 Rijksakademie Open Studio, Amsterdam, NL
2011 Point against Point. Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, NL
2010 Liverpool Biennial: Media Landscape — Zone East. Contemporary Urban Centre, Liverpool, UK
2010 Word-Less. The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York, US
2010 Korean Film Festival in Los Angeles. Los Angeles, US
2010 Korean American Film Festival New York. New York, US
2009 Bauhaus Commuters. New York, US & Erfurt, DE
2009 DesignMade. Korean Cultural Center London, UK
2009 Feedback. Cuchifritos, New York, US
2008 Ningbo International Design Biennial. Ningbo, CN
2007 1st Contemporary & Modern Art Juried Exhibition for Aspiring Korean-American Artists. Korean Cultural Center Los Angeles, US
Collections
De Nederlandsche Bank, Amsterdam, NL
Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam, NL
Works:
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| A Walk 2, 2013, single channel video, stereo audio, 1 min |
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| Suite 2, 2012, single channel video, stereo audio, 2 min 35 sec, loop |
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| Suite 1, 2012, single channel video, stereo audio, 11 min 33 sec, loop |
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| Chair, 2013, object, wood and spray paint, 40 × 40 × 80 cm |
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| Machine, 2012, installation and game, approx. 5 × 8 m, accompanied by a publication, commissioned by KAAP 2012, Utrecht, NL |
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| Daughter, 2011, Single channel video, 6 channel audio, 4 minutes 6 minutes loop |
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| Daughter, 2011, Single channel video, 6 channel audio, 4 minutes 6 minutes loop |
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| Banana, 2011, single channel video, mono audio, 1 min 34 sec |
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| Birds, 2011, single channel video, mono audio, 53 sec, loop |
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| Mother, 2011, single channel video, mono audio, 1 min 25 sec |
Performance Video by Min Oh
Bae Myung Ji, Senior Curator(Coreana Museum
of Art)
Min Oh s performance video is characterized
by recurring performativity comprised of restrained actions and sounds meaningfully
conjoined. In <Walk 2> (2013) for example, a performer’s monotonous
action walking between a white table and an object is captured in close-up.
When the body slides by the object, a barely audible sound is amplified. His or
her quotidian actions and sounds passing by insensibly are transferred to a
visually, auditorily expanded world, as if seen thorough a microscope. Like a
camera capturing a visually unconscious world, its eye closely tracking
everyday actions, pieces of action overlooked in everyday life, interspaces,
and interstices in the body are captured. The consistent features of Oh’s
works, including <Suit, Video 1> (2012) are the camera’s gaze toward
everyday actions, recurring monotonous acts, a physical performance organically
combined with objects, and sounds responding to or united with the performance.
This work is a video of a performance in which a woman in a minimalist garment
moves between white objects in a neutral space with a white background. The
performer enters a white square-frame structure, moves between obliquely or
straightly placed chairs, or depicts the structure with her body. Oh’s
performance suggests that everyday actions and gestures are closely bound up
with objects about us. What’s important here is a physical action reacting
organically to a surrounding environment and architectural structure. Sound
here is an element giving salience to the repetitive structure of body and
object. Her concern for the architectural and repetitive structure of physical
actions and objects stems from Oh’s career as a graphic designer and pianist.
In Oh’s performance video the body appears as neutral, making viewers
contemplate the structure and pattern of action, distant from a specific
narrative structure or purpose. There is a distinction between Oh’s
de-narrative body and recent Korean performances solidifying a layer of
documentary in connection with history and age, and narratives on place.
However, her performance involves internalized narratives such as loss, death,
and violence, unfolding a recurring situation. For instance, <Daughter>
(2011) and <Mother> (2011) activate her autobiographical narratives and
childhood memories from within. Uneasy, gloomy childhood memories are signified
with the movement and sound of vibrating cups, plates revolving, making a
regular sound, and the face of a surprised, frightened girl. This sound
transfigures a peaceful indoor space into an uncanny situation involved with
loss and anxiety, shaking the consistent logic and perception of viewers and
blurring the boundary between fiction and reality. In Oh’s performance a
repetition of certain acts and performing bodies away from any specific purpose
probably works as a safety device to heal objects suffering from trauma with an
image screen.
