Entering Relations with Waves
Hyunbok Lee is an artist refracting the digital imageries produced in the knowledge system of modern science, in his recording methodology called “watching-drawing”. By positioning himself as an “insider” of the regime of modern science, Lee explores the potential of relearning the given reality and its inherent value.
Lee's artistic practice revolves around an examination of the knowledge system from which he learned. He reflects on his childhood experiences, including the influence of Catholicism and the animated TV shows he watched during his time in kindergarten. These personal narratives serve as a point of departure for his works.
The strategy of relearning is demonstrated in his installation works and lecture performances. In his own words: “Through the temporary space that is created by the works, the displaced beings/matters are brought back into our reality to confront us”.
Lee was born and raised in South Korea and lives and works in Bremen and Berlin, Germany.
Entering Relations with Waves is a project started from my own positionality as an in-S.Korean-born artist, where has been dramatically "westernized" after the Korean War.
In the series of lecture performances, which are conducted with verbal storytelling and live-drawing simultaneously, I explore the possibilities of relearning what I learnt from the society - the worldview of modern science and the Christianity that strongly influenced in my entire childhood.
For example, in my previous presentation at the Kunstverein Hannover (https://hoyonboc.info/5/), the performance explored the various stories reflecting the values of modern science, such as of an anime-antagonist character addressing the dichotomy of good and evil, the world of Minecraft, and semi-scientific lecture of quantum mechanics. Through the storytelling and the live drawing, the lecture-performance highlights the crisis of mono-technological/culture phenomena led by the modern science, and presents a possibility of relearning it in another framework of reality: quantum mechanics.
[modern science (classical mechanics) means a knowledge system born in western Europe in c.16th century in the time of the scientific revolution and, riding on the wind of colonialism, spread to all over the world marginalizing indigenous knowledges.]
My proposal is the further elaboration of the project presenting more lecture-performances focusing on the detailed parts of the previous one. I am attaching the most recent example under the following link: https://bit.ly/3q24bkV , which is place empathy in the world of Minecraft -a video game world where you can realize your modern scientific desire- and take a further encounter with the dragon in the video game.
As it’s shown in the example, I would like to present new lecture performances regularly, e.g., once a quarter. I believe the work flexibility is a strong benefit of my proposal in that my performance can be influenced by which frameworks I participate in