November 18–December 10, 2023
Participating artists: Noh Suntag, Lee Maelee, An Yuri, Lee Boorok, Chung Soyoung, Leam Sooyoung, Venzha Christ, Irene Agrivina, Ri Jongok, Akiko Ichikawa, Riae Chong, Michiko Tsuchiya, Chiaki Haibara.
ARKO (Arts Council Korea) is pleased to present Snake Oil Salesmen and the Promised Land by the curator Lim Jongeun, who is selected for this year’s Exhibition.
Snake Oil Salesmen and the Promised Land attempts to challenge the pervasive self-serving strategies of survival in the time of limitless competition, reestablishing and reimagining the notion of “us”. As a divided nation located in East Asia, South Korea may seem to have a rigid territorial border, yet with neoliberalism and globalization as the underlying force, it is not free from its link with the Asian community but is connected in terms of the economy, science and technology.
South Korea has gone through various historical events including colonization, division, war as well as diaspora. Such memories have created fragile myths like race, nation and ideology and “we” have been restructured. In the course of it, some left to build lives and communities in their new homeland, whereas some returned here, which has become the promised land. In addition, the division of the Korean-peninsula, a never-ending event, has been defeating our exuberant imagination about our future or the border. Now, we are inclined to believe that the only things that can foretell the future awaiting us are capital and science.
While religion and ideology gave us faith of the promised land, today, it is capital and science that promises our future like a salesman. Which promised land will we be eventually living in? Assuming that symbiosis is undeniably the prerequisite for the survival and prosperity of the humanity, Snake Oil Salesmen and the Promised Land addresses the conditions for a community to be, which we must envision together. Exploring issues that penetrate the Korean peninsula beyond the logic of history, economics and politics, the exhibition invites us to speculate on “us” that can enable life and coexistence.
Curator: Lim Jongeun / Associate Curator: Kim Junghyun / Supported by Arts Council Korea.
BOAN1942 33, Hyoja-ro, Jongno-gu 03044 Seoul South Korea. Hours: Tuesday–Sunday 12–6pm.
