ARKIPEL Penal Colony - 5th International Documentary and Experimental Film Festival

DURATION: 2017-08-18 ~ 2017-08-26
OPENING: 2017-08-18
VENUE: Jl. Cikini Raya 73, Jakarta - 10330
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Asian Young Curator Program Jihyeon Song - Closure 1. Essay The topic of Closure, a screening program introduced at Asian Young Curator, a part of ARKIPEL 2017(the 5th Jakarta International Documentary and Experimental Film Festival) which puts emphasis on the subject of penal colony, is ‘psychological colonization’. Colonization refers to the expansion of political and economic power over other countries, by means of physical exploitations of their territories. The desire to expand a nation’s territory, in essence, anticipates a cultural, psychological colonization through political or educational processes. Colonization at the macroscopic level takes control of existing national social systems, while at the same time seeks to gain psychological domination at the microscopic level, which eventually amounts to the kind of domination over the lives of individuals. Colonization in the past started with physical conquests of territories, but in our time and also in the future, its broader expansion will be made possible with the help of digital and online elements. The limit of this expansion, which is expected to be immeasurable, will engulf the whole world with the single idea and culture, resulting in the domination of human life. Globalization in its effort to promote equality and freedom is becoming a mechanism which enables the global expansion of capitalism and the worldwide cultural dominance of developed countries. Scientific and technological developments worldwide give rise to a crisis in which local specificities are disappearing without our awareness of it. The curator of this program wants to bring our attention, with the key word of Closure1, to the on- going ‘psychological colonization’, which is currently taking place in Asia. It is a metaphor for the power of influence wielded invisibly by systematic control of thoughts. With works of 6 artists concentrated on the invisible psychological colonization, Closure provides a place of reflection in which we are encouraged to think about the fact that colonization cannot be detached from systems of social control, that is to say, the fact that physical domination eventually leads to psychological, visual, and mental domination. (2014) by Lin Shih-chieh takes the form of an inflammatory propaganda film. It interprets and discloses how psychological domination is made possible by utilizing images. (2015) by Park, Min-Ha presents stories that were produced or left behind in a desert near LA, where U.S soldiers were trained, with the help of simulations of various war scenarios before being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan (2011) by YAO Jui-chung develops an autobiographical narrative in which supporting cheers for an eternal empire are repeatedly heard. The beginning of this black-and-white film shows Kinmen County(金門縣), the foremost frontier of the Xinhai Revolution, and cheers for the empire keeps resonating from the beginning to the end. In the background of vast silence, the echo of cheers for the empire leaves us with a sense of reverberation. (2016) by Cho, Seungho focuses on the matter of religion, which one may argue to be the essential foundation in psychologically dominating humans minds. It shows a speedy montage 1 It is because of closure that films can overcome the boundaries of frames. Closure enables audience to assemble a complete story in their heads, even when they are given with limited expressions within frames. At the same time, it also refers to a human psychological tendency to seek order in chaos and to create a complete form by filling up missing information.  of scenes taking place in Korean Buddhist temples. Buddhist hymns and prayers performed by monks are accompanied with images, carrying us to a place of oblivion by making our minds converged upon somewhere. (2016) by Sejin Kim, a reflection on the lives of migrants, reveals layers of ways in which systems in developed countries manage developing countries. It also presents a visual narrative of the emptiness and lack, hidden behind what we take to be utopian states or cities. Lastly, (2016) by Jon Lazam restores, via stories of a foreigner, the circumstances of the American colonization in the Philippine. This film, a mixture of three different narratives in which a future foreigner with an alien perspective encounters the natives, strikes us as a story of the colonizer attempting to enchant the colonized so as to build a colony. These works by 6 artists include stories of what happened before or are happening now in Asia. It was mostly those nations, geographically situated in the Asian plate and used to be referred to as Oriental, which fell victim to exploitations driven by the imperialist and capitalist desires to expand the boundaries of capitalist markets and colonialist empires in the First and Second World Wars during the early to mid-1900s. In light of this context, it can be said that the concept of Asia is generated by the others. Asia, grounded on the layers of periods in which dictatorships and massacres were experienced, has lost its ordinary ways of perceiving and understanding things on its own. Most Asian countries currently have freed themselves from the colonies, and govern themselves as an independent nation. However, they are still maintained by means of circulating the social systems established by the others, such as their histories, communities, and politics. And the way they are maintained can be characterized as a lack of communication or submission to authorities. We are not well acquainted with autonomous ways of constituting equal communities. Despite all this, we are constantly eager to break away from controls and to obtain horizontal visions. That is to say, we never stop voicing changes and hopes. This struggle might be a lifelong assignment that we, as Asia, have to overcome. 2. Information about the film 
 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. A Short History of Decay (解體�要)
 Lin Shih-chieh , 2014, Taiwan & USA, Color, Stereo, 5’ 45”, HD / No 
 Strategic Operations - Hyper Realistic
 Park, Min-Ha , 2015, Korea & USA, Eng, Color, Stereo, 21’ 19”, HD / Not yet
 LongLive
 YAO Jui-chung, 2011, Taipei, Color, sound, 5’ 20” / No
 Scrumped
 Seoungho Cho, 2016, Korea & USA, Color, sound, HD, 17’53” / No
 Proximity of Longing
 Sejin Kim, 2016, Korea, Eng, HD, 18’ 23” / Not yet
 TheThreeEnchantments
 Jon Lazam, 2016, Philippines, Eng, Color, B&W, 12’28” / No 3. Synopsis of film and Filmmaker’s Bio
 1. Lin Shih-chieh A Short History of Decay (解體�要), 2014, Color, Stereo, 5’ 45”, HD (Taiwan & USA) About the Work is made up of images taken from a propaganda film of the U.S Army in the 1970s. The propaganda film with the intention of promoting, agitating or enlightening is interpreted as a political and social signifier. By appropriating images from the film of the U.S. Army and combining them in a new fashion, the artist creates a new film of his own. By decontextualizing those images, the artist allows the signifiers and signified of the images to be lost, ultimately liberating the meanings of the images. This, at the same time, allows the images to be reinterpreted. The artist discloses and interprets how utilizing images make psychological domination possible. About the Artist Born in Taiwan, Lin Shih-chieh earned an MFA in film and video from California Institute of the Arts(CalArt). While mainly working in the U.S and Taiwan, he focuses on a variety of possibilities of the imagery and reinterprets images which are dealt by the media in the postcolonial era. By the juxtaposition of sound and image in his films, he captures the relationships among histories, memories, and media. 2. Park, Min-Ha Strategic Operations - Hyper Realistic, 2015, Color, Stereo, 21’ 19”, HD (Korea & USA) About the Work is set in a military base in the Mojave Desert, California, United States. Strategic Operations, a company specialized in film special effects, came up with a commercialized tour program in which you can experience a simulation of war. The artist created the work by making use of videos filmed directly by the artist, as well as images and sounds appropriated from the commercials of the tour program. In a military base, which is basically a movie set, U.S Army soldiers are to simulate a war, as they prepare for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In this place of simulation in which ‘real-life situation’ scenarios are assumed, actors play a role of local people and audiences watch how soldiers are trained according to the scenarios. The artist pays attention to the bizarre similarities between mirage phenomena caused by the simulated place and numerous movies staged in deserts. The artist examines the relationships between reality and representation, actuality and virtuality, and also the peculiar visuality emerged from them. About the Artist After graduated with a BFA in painting from Ewha Womans University, Park, Min-Ha went to California Institutes of the Arts(CalArt) and received an MFA. In 2014, the artist was awarded Best Young Director by the 27th Toronto Images Festival in the category of short moving image. The Seoul-based artist presented , a film program, at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art(MMCA) Seoul, and , a solo show at Audiovisual Pavilion in Seoul. She also participated in at Ilmin Museum of Art, at Leeum Museum, and have been prolific as she explores the intersection of film and fine arts. 3. YAO Jui-chung Long Live, 2011, Color, sound, 5’ 20” (Taipei) About the Work In this black-and-white film, the story develops as an autobiographical narrative. begins in Kinmen County, the foremost frontier of the Xinhai Revolution. The place ravaged by the war is in complete ruin. No human can be found in the cold, windy landscape of the film, while the incessant echo of ‘Hurrah’ is repeatedly heard from the beginning to the end through a loudspeaker. The echo of cheers, amid vast silence, for an eternal empire leaves us with a sense of reverberation. About the Artist YAO Jui-chung, based in Taipei, Taiwan, graduated from the Taipei National University of the Arts with a degree in art theory. The artist mainly focuses on the absurdity of the human condition via photography, installation, and video. He takes masterpieces in Chinese art history and reinterprets them as his personal history or trivial stories. He was a representative of Taiwan at the Venice Biennale in 1997, and his major publications include Installation Art in Taiwan and The New Wave of Contemporary Taiwan Photography. 4. Seoungho Cho Scrumped, 2016, Color, sound, HD, 17’53” (Korea & USA) About the Work deals with the matter of religion, which one may say to be the essential foundation in psychologically dominating human minds. It shows a speedy montage of scenes taking place in Korean Buddhist temples. Buddhist monks’ hymns and prayers make the accompanying images look rhythmic and cadenced. It seems to invite us to the world of monk’s asceticism, eventually leading us to a place of oblivion by making our minds converged upon somewhere. About the Artist Seoungho Cho received a BA and an MA in graphic arts from Hong-Ik University, Korea, and an MA in video art from New York University. Currently working and living in New York, the artist uses digital image techniques to lyrically manipulate what he perceives in his everyday life, such as spaces, scenes, landscapes, lights, and times. He carries us to an abstract world of inner meditation through exploring the external world. 5. Sejin Kim Proximity of Longing, 2016, HD, 18’ 23” (Korea) About the Work is a series consisting of three video episodes, , , and , which all deal with the lives of the migrants scattered around the world. It reveals the phenomena of migration, taking place in the U.S., Europe, and Mexico, and shows layers of ways in which systems in developed countries manage developing countries. At the same time, it presents a visual narrative of the emptiness and lack, hidden behind what we take to be utopian states or cities. About the Artist Sejin Kim received an MA in film from Sogang University in Seoul, and an MFA in fine art media from the Slade School of Fine Art(UCL) in London. The artist, using various media apparatus, deals with complex and complicated phenomena in contemporary society in which miscellaneous systems simultaneously exist. With respect to such society, she particularly pays attention to conflicts inevitably emerged between anonymous individuals, and also alienating rifts between individuals, such as human isolation, solitude, anxiety, and lack. 6. Jon Lazam The Three Enchantments, 2016, color/B&W, 12’28” (Philippines) About the Work (2016) unfolds through a voice of an imaginary foreigner who comes to visit the early American colonization in the Philippines. It is an attempt to restore the circumstances of that period, viewed from the perspective of the foreigner. The voice of the foreigner describes, in a calm and cold tone of voice, what it was like to be in the period. This film, a mixture of three narratives of encountering native people in the Philippines, strikes us as a story of the colonizer, in order to build a colony, trying to enchant the colonized. About the Artist Born in the Philippines, Jon Lazam is an experimental filmmaker based in Manila. Working with film and theater, he is interested in examining the interplay between reality and artifice. 4, Curator’s Bio Jihyeon Song(b.1987) justlikessong@gmail.com
 I work an Independent based in Seoul. My major interested in exploring ‘Material’ and ‘Film-based Art Work’ in Contemporary Arts. Constantly, I have been exploring film curatorship. I curated exhibition, screen programs including “UnFolding Time”(2015), “During the Play”(2017). My focus on visual arts-based moving image in Korean Art.