Sunday, 1 July 2007
Groundhog Day the sequal
Finally finishing up a text I've been "constipating" with on Münster I realize I experience the same thing every day just like mentioned in an earlier post here on the blog... I've been locked up in the gallery either "writing" or actually writing text all day and then eventually starting to drink beer when I get too hungry in the evening. Coz we are not having dinner until it is almost too late or even too late in the eve for it usually - like when all the restaurants have quit to either deliver or make food (about ten in the evening). After some beers we all feel like doing something more "constructive" than having dinner - like going to a night club, bar or something of the like, to "meet the locals". Every day the same. I've many more texts to write and we are supposed to have the "pre opening" already on Tuesday, and tomorrow we are off to some meetings instead of having a slow time by the computers. Something has to change pretty soon, or I'll go mad. But I guess this is the Groundhog Day of my life rather than something particular to this place, space or time. Bitter is the taste of... life.
Itaewon nights
As you can see from our most recent blog posts, something is different. McDonalds? This is no way for us artfolks to live our lives. But since Bjørn and I moved into our hotel in Itaewon yesterday, we have all of a sudden experienced how a place can produce a new kind of mental topography. For a few short moments, which were really good fun, we were sucked into the Itaewon lifestyle. Then we woke up to a bad conscience for being bad foreigners. But as Bjørn commented: "If the only thing I have to have hangover anxiety about is eating three (3) burgers at McDonalds, maybe I don't have it so bad."
So what is this all about, then? What's so bad about Itaewon? Mainly just that it is a kind of "American ghetto" of Seoul, with a big army presence and, for some reason, also a big pull on the American tourist market. Perhaps most of the American tourists here are visiting family and friends in the army. All along the main street there are little shops that cater to tourists and Westerners, and the side streets are filled with restaurants and bars. Coming there yesterday was actually kind of a culture shock after spending the first half of the stay in the more exclusively Korean neighbourhoods of Jeeonheedong and Hongdae, staying in jimjilbangs etc. Then again maybe saying that this is a "culture shock", or also sort of feeling that it is, is just coquetteish crap that comes from a strong desire to perceive ourselves as different from these people (= rest of Itaewon crowd). As serious "travellers" as opposed to "tourists" or some such backpacker neo-hippie shit. But it is kind of interesting since we've spent most of our time so far attempting this flat structure where everyone is the same and where no one is in charge. And the we post long attempts at half-assed theory on the internet, so that people back home can think we're cool because we're, like, in Korea and meeting cool people (which of course we are) and what not. Then again, isn't this exactly the kind of self-effacing pseudo-selfcritical crap which mainly functions as a new way of blowing one's own horn. Sigh. I don't know. Basically, I don't think there's any way of writing about these questions without sounding like an idiot.
Anyway, yesterday then. I met up with Bjørn at our friend Jonny Dollars' apartment, where he was in the middle of recording a mammoth radio show for www.cheekymonkeyradio.com. From here we went on to meet up with Power, Jooyoung, Tae Eun and a friend of Jooyoung whose name I didn't catch (not a first here, I'm ashamed to admit...). After fish and chips, cosmos, beers and greyhounds at a bistro-like place we decided it was time to go to a gay bar which, as it turned out, was more like a gay night club. You can always trust teh gays to know a good time, and the club was fantastic! Absolutely packed, everyone dancing to great homo-friendly diva house etc. Neither Bjørn nor I got any attention from the locals, so I guess we're not what they're looking for.
After the club we went looking for a quiet bar in which to enjoy one final drink. First we accidentally walked into a brothel and were courteously thrown out with the words "We are not normal bar, men come here." Okay then. Anyway. Reading about Itaewon on wikipedia I found an interesting article on prostitution to Americans in Korea here: here
So what is this all about, then? What's so bad about Itaewon? Mainly just that it is a kind of "American ghetto" of Seoul, with a big army presence and, for some reason, also a big pull on the American tourist market. Perhaps most of the American tourists here are visiting family and friends in the army. All along the main street there are little shops that cater to tourists and Westerners, and the side streets are filled with restaurants and bars. Coming there yesterday was actually kind of a culture shock after spending the first half of the stay in the more exclusively Korean neighbourhoods of Jeeonheedong and Hongdae, staying in jimjilbangs etc. Then again maybe saying that this is a "culture shock", or also sort of feeling that it is, is just coquetteish crap that comes from a strong desire to perceive ourselves as different from these people (= rest of Itaewon crowd). As serious "travellers" as opposed to "tourists" or some such backpacker neo-hippie shit. But it is kind of interesting since we've spent most of our time so far attempting this flat structure where everyone is the same and where no one is in charge. And the we post long attempts at half-assed theory on the internet, so that people back home can think we're cool because we're, like, in Korea and meeting cool people (which of course we are) and what not. Then again, isn't this exactly the kind of self-effacing pseudo-selfcritical crap which mainly functions as a new way of blowing one's own horn. Sigh. I don't know. Basically, I don't think there's any way of writing about these questions without sounding like an idiot.
Anyway, yesterday then. I met up with Bjørn at our friend Jonny Dollars' apartment, where he was in the middle of recording a mammoth radio show for www.cheekymonkeyradio.com. From here we went on to meet up with Power, Jooyoung, Tae Eun and a friend of Jooyoung whose name I didn't catch (not a first here, I'm ashamed to admit...). After fish and chips, cosmos, beers and greyhounds at a bistro-like place we decided it was time to go to a gay bar which, as it turned out, was more like a gay night club. You can always trust teh gays to know a good time, and the club was fantastic! Absolutely packed, everyone dancing to great homo-friendly diva house etc. Neither Bjørn nor I got any attention from the locals, so I guess we're not what they're looking for.
After the club we went looking for a quiet bar in which to enjoy one final drink. First we accidentally walked into a brothel and were courteously thrown out with the words "We are not normal bar, men come here." Okay then. Anyway. Reading about Itaewon on wikipedia I found an interesting article on prostitution to Americans in Korea here: here
Cratedigging & Radioshow
Johnny Dollars is one of several foreigners who has found a new way of life in Seoul as Englishteachers. Up on till now, just about every foreigner I have met during our stay here has been , or is currently catering Koreans with the new Latin. Apparently it is short hours and good pay, which in Johnny`s case, gives him more time to work on other projects like producing and DJing. This saturday, Mr. Dollars invited me to go record hunting with him in the Myeon
gdong area, which besides being a place for high-end shopping centers and teens in love, offers the biggest concentration of second hand vinyl in the country. Johnny brought his friend Stuart from New Zealand, ( or DiscoStu amongst friends ) digging as well. After hitting a couple of record shelves ( the shops are actually small booths in underground shopping centers ), I realize quickly to my big disappointment that 45s or singles, are non-existent in Korea. I found a couple of boxes, but they only contained records badly stacked on top of eachother with no sleeve, and they were all from someone`s rubbish country and western collection. I was kind of hoping to find something worth picking up on 45s, knowing that the American Army base in Seoul has been around long enough to have seen some records finding their way across the ocean. I then started to look for some Korean 70s stuff, as I heard some good record
s at Bar SUM in Hong-Dae earlier in the week. After a couple hours, we felt that we had seen through enough, and went to grab a couple of beers, and Johnny was also meeting up with a writer from Blues & Soul magazine, ( Carey from Wales, and her friend Yoyo from Texas )that was going to try to promote his new party and a new website of his( sorry, I can`t remember the name of it, but I`ll try to post it later ).We then headed to Itaewon where I was going to record a show, for his internetradioshow at cheekymonkeyradio. Some new findings, but mostly records from last weeks gig at Bar Nana. Actually, the new findings in fact never made it to Johnny`s studio, as I lost and retrieved those records TWICE in numerous bars, and
they are waiting for me behind the counter at a bar in Freedom Town. Londoner Jordan, friend of Johnnys who is interesting enough also an englishteacher, stopped by the studio with a nice bag of 45s, and made it a great evening, sharing lots of new sounds I haven`t heard before. I will post a link to the radioshow when it`s online.
Key words summary for new participants
개입, 충돌, 협업, 큐레이터가 컨트롤 하지 않는다, 자발성, 다양한 층, 위아래가 없는 구조, 과정 중심, 관계미술, 거장의 작품은 아니다...
interference, clash, collaboration, powerless structure, flat structure, spontaniety, multi layer, process, realational art, no master piece...
interference, clash, collaboration, powerless structure, flat structure, spontaniety, multi layer, process, realational art, no master piece...
Recreational Evolution Stage 1
Erlend spending the night on a couple of pillows at the project space.
The smallest bar in Seoul
On friday I met up with Aeri, who is studying modern dance, which Jan and I met at a party earlier in the week, who wanted to invite us to her smaaal smaal bar that she ran with three other friends in Hong-Dae. Erlend, Power, JooYoung and myself was introduced to some of her friends, whom one, funny enough, was artistically responsible for some of the few street art pieces I`ve seen since I got here, and hopefully we will do a collaborative work together before we leave Seoul.
전체 미팅 (call for meeting)
프리 오프닝(7월3일.7시)전까지 이틀 남았습니다. 그리고, 바로 일주일후에 오프닝 행사가 있습니다.
화요일 3일에 전체적으로 누가 무슨 작업을 소개하고 등등 구체적으로 계획이 나와야 할 시점입니다. 그리고, 업데이트된 내용들도 참여자 모두 알아야할 단계입니다.
그래서 , 오늘 195로 다들 오셔서 미팅이 진행되길 바랍니다. 지금 다들 각자 스케줄도 있고해서 동시에 전체모임을 갖는것은 어렵겠지만...
월요일에는 갤러리에 2-3사이에 다른 작가 미팅도 있을 예정입니다.
지금까지 새로 개입하고 있는 참여자는
최수정(인미공 라운드 테이블 토크를 계기로 참여하게된 작가), 김진주, 최태은, 권준호, 특히 권준호씨는 인미공 큐레이터 강성은씨 소개로 처음으로 자발적으로 초대된 작가입니다. 그리고, 비온과 같이 참여하는 DJ는 조니 달라, 바야 코자입니다. 특히, 조니는 비온을 서울에 처음으로 DJ 로 데뷔시킨 영국 친구이기도 합니다.
그외는 더 궁금한 195웹사이트 홈/블로그에서 업데이트 확인하시기 바랍니다.
참고로 현재 공간에는 얀, 비온, 알랜드, 파워가 있습니다.
화요일 3일에 전체적으로 누가 무슨 작업을 소개하고 등등 구체적으로 계획이 나와야 할 시점입니다. 그리고, 업데이트된 내용들도 참여자 모두 알아야할 단계입니다.
그래서 , 오늘 195로 다들 오셔서 미팅이 진행되길 바랍니다. 지금 다들 각자 스케줄도 있고해서 동시에 전체모임을 갖는것은 어렵겠지만...
월요일에는 갤러리에 2-3사이에 다른 작가 미팅도 있을 예정입니다.
지금까지 새로 개입하고 있는 참여자는
최수정(인미공 라운드 테이블 토크를 계기로 참여하게된 작가), 김진주, 최태은, 권준호, 특히 권준호씨는 인미공 큐레이터 강성은씨 소개로 처음으로 자발적으로 초대된 작가입니다. 그리고, 비온과 같이 참여하는 DJ는 조니 달라, 바야 코자입니다. 특히, 조니는 비온을 서울에 처음으로 DJ 로 데뷔시킨 영국 친구이기도 합니다.
그외는 더 궁금한 195웹사이트 홈/블로그에서 업데이트 확인하시기 바랍니다.
참고로 현재 공간에는 얀, 비온, 알랜드, 파워가 있습니다.
The promised documentation of the big achievement - and more
Something's very wrong with this picture...
Participants in the work shop
Remember the sleeping man from a blog post below? Here he is awake!
Everything gets documented in this work shop...
Documenting...
Documenting...
Documenting...
There are mug shots and there are crotch shots. This is Erlends crotch shot.
Then there are the boob-shots...
Rain, rain go to Spain...
In the line for burgers
THREEEEEE burgers!!! New record! Dude, I think there might be a second Hurley in this work shop... By the way - these are horrid images of all of us... We all look much better IRL. However, a promise is a promise...
Bjørn's big achievement
Ronald McDonald says kamsamnida.
It's 4.25 a.m and Bjørn asked me to make a quick post about his big achievement: he has just eaten three McDonalds meals in less than five hours. He is needless to say very, very proud.
Anyway, good night out with the girls, at a great gay club which was like a little slice of (very innocent) Berghain in the middle of Seoul. Then Bjørn scored himself a "Diego" (a drink, not at the gay club).
There will undoubtedly be more documentation of the night's events some time tomorrow.
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