Aging World - Will you still love me tomorrow?

Artists
SMSM (Sasa[44], MeeNa Park, Choi Sulki, Choi Sung Min), Natalia Lassalle Morillo, Lauren Greenfield, Park Eun-tae, Sampsa Virkajärvi, Anna Witt, Anneè Olofsson, Heinkuhn OH, Optical Race, WISE ARCHITECTURE, Jiyoung Yoon, E.J.DOMOSO, ByungHo Lee, Everyday Practice, Common Accounts

Curated by Hyejin KIM

Will you still love me tomorrow? illuminates the global phenomenon of the aged society, shedding light particularly on the Korean culture which tends to otherize the elderly. The title of the exhibition, taken from Anneè Olofsson’s work Will you still love me tomorrow?, captures the sense of anxiety and fears in the Korean society where people are forced to look at aging through a contemporary view that pressures one to be and look young.

Globally, the average human life expectancy and the proportion of the population over 60 have nearly doubled over the past few decades. In the same manner, Korean is also on the verge of becoming a super-aged society, with people over 65 years of age taking over 20% of the population. Despite such rapid changes in the composition of population and life cycle, aging is still associated with being old and weak in the capitalist society, and this is predominantly approached with an economic, rather than social logic. A term that emerged in such social atmosphere is “ageism,” which defines discrimination and stereotypes based on age. Ageism amplifies oppression, alienation and inequality both individually and collectively, and exerts a strong influence over all generations. To make matters worse, mass media reinforces the negative stereotypes about aging.

Will you still love me tomorrow? is presented through three exhibition sections and public program zones, aiming to examines the negative perceptions surrounding aging and to examine the influences as well as the origin of such negative perceptions on an individual and society. The first section observes aging in the context of the capitalistic social atmosphere where aging is consumed only on a superficial level through plastic surgery, shopping and obsessive self-maintenance. The second section observes social problems such as conflict between generations and alienation, through the different perceptions on aging by the individual and society. Lastly, the third section presents works that look into the near future, and invite us to think about aging in the context of one’s own narrative. In the exhibition, there are also audience-participatory works that propose new perceptions regarding aging.

Based on the unique experiences, perspectives and social backgrounds of the fifteen artists and artist teams in this exhibition working in fields of art, design and architecture, attempt to overcome the various types of discrimination in their work, fueled in a society that demands the captivating capital of “youth.” Hopefully, the exhibition stimulates new ways of looking at aging, and invites us to explore innovative approaches to a longer life.


A Series of Public Programs
–A Project of Unboxing 21 Grams_Artist collective E.J.DOMOSO
–Body and Innerspace Sunju Kim (Dancer)
–Artist’s Lunch Box × Homemade meal_Artist collective E.J.DOMOSO
–Life guide: When will I be the strongest?_Educator Kim, Julee, Seol, minhee, Lee, Sumi, Lyoum, Youngseo, Lee, Chaewon
–The value of wrinkles_Educator Seol, minhee, Lee, Sumi, Lee, Chaewon
–SeMA Talk
–Music + Museum Night
–Exhibition Commentary Service


For more information on the programs, please visit the SeMA website.