Enter Media Art: Artists Taken On Speed Frenzy

For those generations trained to fast moving images of computer graphics and DDR, speed is not only the object of their pleasure, but also a code symbolic of their identity. They cherish damagochi (a computer game that simulates growing living animals) the same way others care for their pets, and choose to surf the net in the airless PC rooms instead of hanging out with their classroom buddies. This invasion of high tech in one's private sphere has resulted in the mechanization of the human senses.

Such changes have also brought a dramatic shift in one's perception towards viewing artworks. This high exposure to mechanical environment has turned viewers' senses numb, thus replacing the pleasure of viewing a static piece of artwork.

Media art reflects this "speed frenzy." It's as fast and glamorous as images portrayed in pop culture. If one excludes the artist's bitter social critique in the work, media art is as perfectly entertaining as the video games are.

"Hello Art Dot-Com" (http://www.helloart.com)," a cyber gallery dealing exclusively with digital art, presents their inaugural exhibition titled "Hello! Art, Hello! Computer" in an attempt to stay input in the current trend.

Organised by the Gallery Hello Art Dot-Com and sponsored by the Kaise Gallery, the exhibition presents the work of 6 artists (Cody Choi, Michael Zhan, Hong Seoung-hye, Oh Young-jae, Hwang Kyu-tae, Chung Sang-kon) who work with computer-generated images in their own unique way.

Michael Zhan, a Cleveland-born artist who shows mostly on the New York art scene, brings an interesting perspective to the world of computer icons. By painting various computer icons on the gallery wall, Zhan attempted to create a complicated virtual reality in his last exhibition at Kaise Gallery.

Similarly, Cody Choi, using his son's 3-D crayon, illustrates how computer "plays" with the human senses.

The works of Hwang Kyu-tae, a photojournalist, deal with the question of photo-reproduction and how photography has been used to discern the "truth."

As reflected in the title, the show views computer as a creative medium that can go beyond its technical limitations, while at the same time finding itself part of our daily playthings.

The opening page of the website asks,
"Is a happy marriage between art and computer possible?"

Such questions have become a bit of a cliche since Paik Nam-june introduced his first video art, but they have served to advance the ongoing debate that hopes to dismantle the existing hierarchy in art.

by Soo-mee Park