Art Sonje Center hostsJi Hye Yeom’s All exiles have a hidden luck for its 2015 Art Sonje Project #4. All exiles have a hidden luck is a line from the poem “Song of Golden Sleeve” by Shim Bo Seon. This line depicts the tangled irony in exile, its loneliness and sadness, vague hope and anticipation of the unseen and fortune, or fleeting happiness. While all exiles are about loss and leaving the current time and space, it is also about the possibility of entering another time and space. To the artist, whose interest in space has grown, and who has tried to find the relationship between people who form and plan space and culture, exile is something that has always existed in life and it is the act of anticipating a new view on life. The exile shown in this exhibition is something that can be found nearby.

The four video works prepared under the exhibition title All Exiles Have a Hidden Luck are either directly or loosely related to exile. Prescape (2015), depicts a mysterious virtual world, Wonderland (2012) is an imagination on space, Isoland (2014) is contemplation on inner space, and A Night with a Pink Dolphin (2015) depicts the orally transmitted legend and its surrounding socio-political story. These works illustrate the complex and ironic concept of exile that is voluntary and involuntary at the same time, social but extremely individual, heavy yet light-hearted, and that is about physical transfer and at the same time about mental nomadism.

The exhibition is subtly laid out, with the artist’s new piece A Night with a Pink Dolphin at the center and props placed to show close connection to works of different textures. The props bring the works closer and fulfill the role of filling space. The exhibition will invite visitors to feel like they are in a different time and space. Visitors are invited to explore the various perspectives of the previously limited meaning of exile.
About the Artist
Ji Hye Yeom (b. 1982) received her BFA from Seoul National University, an MA from Central Saint Martins, and an MFA from Goldsmiths, University of London. After participating in numerous residency programs in Ghana, Iran, Palestine, Brazil, and Colombia, she currently lives and works in Seoul, Korea.
About Art Sonje Project Space
Newly inaugurated in the latter half of year 2014 on the ground floor space of the museum after its renovation, “Art Sonje Project Space” is a platform for temporary and free artistic endeavors. To replace the museum’s commercial facilities such as cafe and restaurant with an expansion of education and project space, Art Sonje Center invited an architectural project to transform its ground floor public space. While succeeding the spirit of the “Art Sonje Lounge Project (2009-2014)”, more emphasis has been put on the openness of the space and introduction of various programs, such as talks and workshops.