Isaac Julien: Playtime

Platform-L Contemporary Art Center presents Isaac Julien: Playtime, the artist’s first extensive solo exhibition in South Korea. Facing not only the reorganization of world powers after the arrival of the Trump government but also an unprecedented urge to reform the current political and social conditions in South Korea, the opening of the exhibition here and now acquires a distinct context.

What does art or the politics of art mean to this era? Traditionally, wasn’t it the critical art that dictated that art shouldn’t be isolated from life or that art has to eagerly carry out resistance and appropriation under inhuman social conditions? In this regard, more than any other comparable practices, Julien’s is reactive to reality while challenging the sensuous in the filmic language.

Throughout the solo exhibition, Julien examines inevitable and fundamental questions around capitalism, labour and art market of our time. His work engages with postcolonialism, migration and diaspora, racism and minor gender identities as thematic approach. In his major presentation of Playtime at the Platform-L, the intrinsic contradiction and limits of capitalism is depicted in an apocalyptic tone.

The exhibition consists of three works including Playtime (2014) functioning as the major axis to the constellation paired to Kapital (2013) and finally The Leopard (2007) that renders historic traumas into a choreography playing on the border of life and death. Playtime, realized as seven-channel installation, is an epitome of the artist’s mastery of immersive poetics or expanded montage, and the methods of sound design. The work is an aesthetical analysis in the 21st century of Karl Marx’s Capital and takes up the challenge of giving visual form to the immaterial flow of capital. The work will be installed in the live hall at the Platform-L, designed to activate architectural resonance – and will suggest an artistic experience to inspire the emancipated spectator, as per Jacques Rancière’s statement.

About Platform-L Contemporary Art Center 
Platform-L Contemporary Art Center opened to the public in May 2016 establishing itself as a locus for diverse and noteworthy creative perspectives which connect contemporary artists to audiences in Korea and beyond. Creators in visual art, performance and film cultivate an ongoing cultural dialogue with visitors to Platform-L’s spaces and work to diminish the cultural distance between audiences while fostering a wider appreciation for contemporary art.