CityLife

Exhibition: On The Other Side Of The Globe

Jeju Sungsanpo-2 by Han Moo Cho

MadLab - August 2010

The concept of MadLab (short for Manchester Digital Laboratory) is one that makes other formal gallery spaces look archaic.

It’s a space for spontaneous creativity, one that celebrates not simply fine art or one gentrified vision of what art is over another – it only asks that everyone who comes through its doors be creative, whether that be on canvas, on a computer or via something more conceptual.

Unification of purpose and pooling of talent, then, underpin its aims. And in its first exhibition since opening last year, MadLab fulfils its mission statement by showing a multi-media collection of contemporary South Korean work in Manchester and two other galleries: London’s Britannia Centre and the online gallery ARCK.

Curated by Joo Won Lee, On The Other Side Of The Globe brings together more than 50 works by professors, designers and students from Korean universities that take a fresh look at Korea’s position as a hotbed for economic growth, design, fashion and technology and examine how the country now relates to the rest of the world.

It is, says Lee, an ambitious project. “Thirty-six Korean contemporary artists and designers are participating in this show,” he says.

“As fine art area participants of this show, there are Asian art artists, western art artists, digital art artists and photographers, and for design area participants there are graphic designers, fashion designers, industrial designers, and so on.

“Plus, along with such visual art areas, a writing piece and a music piece also take part in this show.”

The diversity of the artists – drawn from Handong Global University, Korea National University of Art, Seoul Women’s University and Yonsei University – means that the subject matters, styles and approaches are vast and innovative.

Many artists examine their own heritage of calligraphy, Buddhist architecture, costume and myth, to puzzle how they can be applied in the modern world, while fashion designers debate why Korea has become a testbed for international style.

Rapid change in the region raises questions about sustainability, tourism and ecology, and how that can be balanced with conservation of history and culture.

But there are also some suitably bizarre additions; Somyung Choi’s video installation, Personified, uses a stapler independently stapling whatever it sees as a metaphor for human advancement, while Han Moo Cho’s Jeju Sungsanpo-2 messes with everything you thought you knew about picture postcard landscapes.

At MadLab, 36-40 Edge St, Manchester. Open Thursday-Sunday, 10am-late, with evening events throughout the month. Visit www.madlab.org.uk for a full schedule.