2019 Asian Film and Video Art Forum

David Teh, Jangwook Lee, Hafiz Rancajale, John Torres, Nguyen Trinh Thi, Raqs Media Collective, Im Cheol-min & Kim Sangsook

Now in its third edition, 2019 Asian Film and Video Art Forum (AFVAF) focuses on the fundamental question: what is an artist? At the same time, the forum focuses on the meaningful changes brought by artistic action and participation by non-artists, artworks produced for public purposes, and artistic activity based on collaboration or collective systems. At the heart of these changes are narcissism and the desire to share, enabled by social media, and the huge trend of the “age of image consumption,” operating in collusion with the capital that dominates the online ecosystem. Amid this trend, we are faced with a need to deconstruct the meanings of our social relationships as artists with individual artistic activities and intellectual property rights, discern the ambiguous boundaries between art and ethics, and deconstruct the meaning of completed works as objects of evaluation.

2019 AFVAF aims to introduce the thoughts and working processes of people contemplating and recording a specific topic, rather than presenting films or videos as objects of aesthetic criticism. To this end, we have developed a program based on research of various themes related to cultural phenomena including artistic activity, and run a workshop project combining research and creation.

This year’s program consists of three sections: Research and Lectures, Workshop Projects, and a Screening Program. In the Research and Lectures section, David Teh, Raqs Media Collective and Im Cheol-min & Kim Sangsook each present the outcomes of research of their respective themes. David Teh discusses the sovereignty of artists in political and historical contexts, examining issues of copyright that emerge amid cultural and technological change. Raqs Media Collective talks about the meaning of collaborative artworks based on its members’ experiences as both artists and curators taking part in exhibitions. Im Cheol-min & Kim Sangsook address the characteristics of media that are appearing through live streaming and the changes brought to the world of perception by network technology. In addition to the study projects planned as part of the Research and Lectures program, Professor Junho Oh delivers a lecture on the origins of Educational Films and historical background of this genre in Korea, subjects of his long-term study.

The Workshop Project was conducted by Korea’s Space Cell, Indonesia’s Forum Lenteng, The Philippines’ Los Otros and Vietnam’s Hanoi DocLab. Taking “capital” as their common keyword, the four teams produced video works as a means of studying and interpreting capital within the environments and historicities of their respective regions. The videos made by the participants, who number some 40 individuals in total, are not artistic outcomes but records that reveal their thoughts, attitudes and research process regarding capital. Representatives from each team will present the outcomes of their research processes and discussions at a forum, while research materials and videos uploaded by all the participants will be made public on a separate website.

Event Schedule

Research & Lecture 1: Im Cheol-min & Kim Sangsook
Live Streaming as Geopolitical Mapping
November 1, 2019 (Friday) 3-5pm

Research & Lecture 2: Raqs Media Collective
Seeing Thought: Video as a Form of Inquiry into Our Work
November 1, 2019 (Friday) 5:30~7:30pm

Workshop Project Forum: “Das Kapital”
November 2, 2019 (Saturday) 2-8:30pm
2-3pm Space Cell
3-4pm Los Otros
4-5pm Hanoi DocLab
5:30~6:30pm Forum Lenteng
6:30~8:30 Talk

Research & Lecture 3: David Teh

On Sovereign Authorship
November 3, 2019 (Sunday) 2:30~3:30pm
Curatorial Talk

November 3, 2019 (Sunday) 3:40~5:30pm

Lecture
The Professionalization and Internationalization of Audiovisual Education
Lecturer: Junho Oh
November 8, 2019 (Friday) 4:30~7:30pm