Exhibition booklet is available here. Floor plan is available here can.ch
Ripple is a solo exhibition by Korean artist Hwayeon Nam, presenting four video works that explore specific objects and subjects from Korean history. Nam traces the circulation of information and knowledge through the body, music, dance, and digital data, visualising it through expanded “choreographic” methods. This immaterial mapping process reveals the ripple caused by fissures in history as these fragments traverse through time and space.
1 Throbbing Dance explores the transposition of a North Korean dance inspired by the film Flashdance (1983), shifting from capitalist individualism to socialist ideology. Nam revisits this process within the South Korean context of the 2000s, creating a new choreography centred around the concept of “throbbing”, influenced by online music videos. This evolution of an 1980s American symbol into a Korean phenomenon reveals the cultural and political dynamics of its reinterpretations.
2 Coréen 109 follows Nam’s quest to access the physical copy of the Jikjisimchaeyojeol (Jikji), a 1377 Korean Buddhist document and the oldest book printed with metal movable type. Instead of granting her request for the original book, the library provided only an internet archive link. In response, the artist gathered data related to Jikji scattered across the internet, tracing the historical trajectory of the object’s ownership.
3 Imjingawa retraces the history of Imujingawa, a Japanese song inspired by Limjingang, which has Korean diasporic connotations. Adapted in the 1960s, its success was interrupted in 1968 when Chongryon (the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan) claimed its North Korean origin, leading to its ban until its reissue in 2002. Her research explores the song’s potential to live beyond legal, national, ideological, and geographical barriers.
4 Against Waves highlights the influence of Seung-hee Choi’s Basic Folk Dance of Joseon (1959), which connects traditional Korean dance with Western modernity. Through an interview with Japanese-Korean choreographer Kyunghee Lee, a movement demonstration, and archival footage, the work explores how this communist reinterpretation of dance helped preserve the cultural identity of the Zainichi Koreans (Korean diasporas in Japan).
