Project 7 1/2 will hold A Tale of Two Cities: Narrative Archive of Memories at Arko Art Center from July 21 through September 3, 2017. Participating artists are Marco Kusumawijaya & Rujak Center for Urban Studies, Younghwan Bae, Sunah Choi, Sulki & Min, Jongup Lim, Irwan Ahmett & Tita Salina, Timodeus Anggawan Kusno and Forum Lenteng. These participants comprise the urban research group, architect, journalist, and visual artists from Korea and Indonesia.

Project 7 1/2 began in 2014 by raising the fundamental question of “What is art?” Over the last three years, 7 1/2 carried out site-specific, experimental exhibition projects in Mullae-dong, Jangsa-dong, and other places in Seoul together with multiple artists adopting various formats. A Tale of Two Cities: Narrative Archive of Memories is a part of this long-term project as well as the project’s first exhibition to be held in a museum space. At the same time, the exhibition will function as the bridgehead for the project 7 1/2 project in Indonesia scheduled to take place in 2018.

 

A Tale of Two Cities: Narrative Archive of Memories sets out from the parallel experience and conception of modern history that Korea and Indonesia coincidentally happen to share. The exhibition presents an archive project that assembles, studies, and documents forgotten or disregarded facts and stories from the history of the two countries since 1945. Juxtaposed along with this archiving project are the subjective, artistic approaches of Korean and Indonesian artists evolving around the notion of ‘memory.’ The ‘city’ in this context is perhaps closer to ‘a cultural, historical community’ of a broader sense. On the other hand, the ‘narrative archive’ implies a certain paradoxical ‘chasm’ created between the objective, universal facts, and subjective, selective memories. This exhibition uncovers and explores this ‘difference’ between reality and illusion, community and individual, and objective records and artistic translation. Depending on the situation and context, these paradoxical ‘differences’ arising from individual artworks of the exhibition will lucidly manifest at times. At other times, subtle moments of intersection and cross-penetration of seemingly contradictory matters will unfold.

 

Over the last three years, the project 7 1/2 featured themes of ‘art and unconsciousness’ and ‘sense.’ More emphasis was set on approaching these themes from a sociological perspective than on projecting an aesthetic interpretation of them. It was a ‘viewpoint shift,’ as well as a process of exploring ‘the relationship with others.’ In line with this trajectory, the participating artists of the project 7 1/2 in 2017 will also produce their works around the central theme of ‘sense.’ They will simultaneously bear in mind the keyword of historical, collective, and individual ‘memories.’ This exhibition hopes to present 7 1/2’s accumulation of diverse artistic experiences achieved through the three-year process of exploration, as well as the expanded aesthetic discourse sparked by these experiences.

A

Sulki and Min

Dinosaur

digital print on fabric, 2017

 

Gyeryong, South Chungcheong province, is the smallest city in South Korea, with a population of 41,730 as of 2015. Designed as a military town, it hosts headquarters of three major defence departments (army, navy, and air force), with more than 40% of the population working for, or related to, the military. As of 2014, of the 8,729 workforces of the city, none were working in the primary industry; 785 in manufacturing; and the rest in the tertiary sector including commerce and services. Sabang is probably the smallest city in Indonesia, with an estimated population of 28,454 as of 2014. It consists of several islands off the northern tip of Sumatra, and is the northernmost and westernmost city in Indonesia. There are remnants of fortifications and bunkers built by the Japanese occupying forces during the Second World War. The majority of the population are Muslim, and Sharia rules are officially recognized in the region. Its major industry is agriculture. El dinosaurio was written by the Guatemalan writer Augusto Monterroso Bonilla (1921–2003) in 1959. Composed of mere seven words, it is one of the shortest novels ever written. It was, at least, known as the shortest Spanish work until Luis Felipe Lomelí published the four-word story “El emigrante” in 2005. There have been many interpretations of the story, but it’s apparent to us that the work is about the city and memory. In Sulki and Min’s Dinosaur, five stages of a story—exposition, rising action, crisis, climax, and resolution— will be printed on five flags in order. Each flag contains rich meanings, yet also provides an incomplete reading experience for the audience.

 
 

B

Forum Lenteng

Ten Years at Java

a research project, 2017

 

Ten Years at Java is a research project that follows Huyung’s viewpoint about cinema, art, and culture, with a specific focus on his perspectives of the early independent era of Indonesia. Forum Lenteng has discovered and compiled Huyung’s thoughts held in various newspapers and films at that time. This research brings together the thoughts and the archive history of cinema that has continued for over 100 years.

 
 

C

Forum Lenteng

Ten Years at Java

color, no sound, 10 min, 2017

 

Beginning from Japanese military occupation in Indonesia (1942–1945) and Indonesian Revolution (1945–1949), to the early Sukarno’s rule (1949–1952), Huyung took part in many activities such as theatre, cinema, art, and culture along with other notable figures in Indonesia. Huyung offered his thoughts through various media, such as writing, play, film, and theatre school. His perspectives became the standpoint in the development of Indonesian aesthetics in art, photography, music, cinema, theatre, literature, as well as issues of national identity, education, and the importance of government alignment in the development of art in Indonesia. Ten Years at Java tries to compile Huyung’s viewpoint about cinema aesthetics and the identity of Indonesian art and culture through archive and documentation. [compiled by the artist]

 
 

D

Huyung

Calling Australia

BW, sound, 31 min, 1943

 

Calling Australia is the only film that Huyung made during Japanese military occupation in Indonesia. It can also be considered as Indonesia’s first film. Actual prisoners from Australia, England, and the Netherlands acted in the film, telling how the prisoners enjoy their time in the camp. They have good health facilities and are free to prepare their meals, drink beer, and play billiards. A female prisoner complains about having gained weight. It was a propaganda film of the Japanese Army. When the film-making was almost finished, pamphlets were spread in Australia. However, as Japan surrendered to the Allies, this film was seized. Jaap Speyer, a Dutch director who worked in the Netherlands Indies Government Film Unit, remade it in the title of Nippon Presents to reveal how awful the Japanese soldiers were. Moreover, this film was screened in Crimes Tribunal in Tokyo in 1945 as evidence against the Japanese military leaders. At the same time, Dutch director Joris Ivens made a film that responded to the film, Indonesia Calling(1946). [collection of Beeld en Geluid]

 
 

E

Huyung

Berita Film Indonesia No. 3

BW, sound, 9 min, 1945–1949

 

Berita Film Indonesia was made shortly after the Japanese military government surrendered to the allies which recently took the film equipment from Nippon Eigasha Jakarta. During the First Dutch Military Aggression in 1946, Jakarta was seized by the Allies-Dutch, and the Indonesian government moved into Yogyakarta. Berita Film Indonesia moved to Yogyakarta as well. They went to Solo, a small town near Yogyakarta. Huyung took part in the Berita Film Indonesia movement as cameraman and editor. During 1945–1949, the Berita Film Indonesia (Indonesia Newsreel) recorded all the events about how the people and government took part in independence and negotiations between the new Indonesia government and Dutch, such as; Linggarjati Negotiations, Round Table Conference, etc. Berita Film Indonesia No. 3 (Indonesia Newsreel No. 3) is one of the newsreel series made by the Berita Film Indonesia movement that still remains. This film was made to be distributed to international audiences. [Indonesia Newsreel No. 3, Collection of The National Archive of Republic of Indonesia]

 
 

F

Huyung

Frieda

BW, sound, 63 min, 1950

 

At first, the film was titled Antara Bumi dan Langit(Between Sky and Earth). Due to government censorship, the kissing act was deleted. The screenwriter Armijn Pane resigned and the title was changed to Frieda. In fact, that scene was the first kissing scene in Indonesia cinema. This film aroused debates and polemics on nationalism identity between the Western and Eastern culture in Indonesian cinema. At that time, identity and nationalism became hot issues among intellectuals, artists, and politicians in the newly born country. Frieda tells the love story of a woman and a man who hold different ideologies. It shows how the relationship in the after-revolution era was built amidst the socio-political situation in a country building up democracy. [collection of Sinematek Indonesia]

 
 

G

Timoteus Anggawan Kusno

Seriality, the Unknown, et cetera archiving, video and sound installation, 2017

 

Timoteus Anggawan Kusno collects several points of view in the forgotten time of Yang Chil-seong (1919–1949). Many memories of Yang Chil-seong listed by someone are like stories or letters in a novel. It could be a story of Yang Chil-seong, or someone else who might exist.

 
 

H

Watchdoc

The Fake Islands

documentary film, 59 min, 2016

 

The Fake Islands is a documentary about the controversy on 17 islands reclamation in the Northern Coast of Jakarta from the viewpoint of fisher folks and coastal residences. The 17 islands reclamation was first broached in 1995 when President Suharto released a Presidential Decree to building the islands which he thought would be a good way to expand the city’s land area. The project was strongly opposed by various parties including the Ministry of Environment and the ministry cancelled the environmental assessment and permit. Over the next 20 years, the issue became a subject of fierce conflict within the government and the courts. In 2015 the fisher folks along with civil society organizations under Save Jakarta Bay Coalition, sued the Provincial DKI Jakarta government after the government released permits for 8 islands. In 2016 the reclamation project was escalated to the national level when a Jakarta Councillor was caught by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for receiving kickback from the president director of developer company and laundered millions of USD of his unaccountable wealth. Both were proven guilty of corruption and bribery as charged. In 2017, due to government election, the issue was escalated through governor election, when one candidate opposed reclamation while the governor supported the reclamation.

 
 

I

Watchdoc

Jakarta Unfair

documentary film, 53 min, 2016

 

Jakarta Legal Aid released a report on forced evictions revealing that there were 305 evictions from 2015 to 2016. At least 70% of evictions we carried out unilaterally and without any proportionate solutions. And about 50% of eviction cases involved Indonesian Military (TNI) officers and police officers. 80% of eviction cases were happened because of the development project, including the river normalization project and mega-structure for coastal defence. The story is following the aftermath of evictions in Kampung Luar Batang, Kampung Dadap and eviction in Bukit Duri.

 
 

J

Marco Kusumawijaya & Rujak

Archiving Resistance

archiving, 2017

 

Archiving Resistance collects and shows documentation available on many resistance incidents in Jakarta since 1945, focusing on limited cases. The aim is to reflect on; what is a better way of archiving resistance? What values can it offer? What kinds of possibilities are open to us considering this is experimental and new in the Indonesian scene? We somehow assume that there has been so much resistance, but are there material evidence and narratives? Our act of remembering is inevitably self-filtering by the desire to show evidence and to create narratives.

 
 

K

Irwan Ahmett & Tita Salina

Flower Currency

archiving and video installation, 2017

 

Irwan and Tita will grow a new species of the flower together with Indonesian immigrant workers residing in Korea and dedicate it to this country. Flower Currency allows us to have hope by offering an imagination of recovered relations of the past, present, and uncertain future through ‘flower.’ No one can assure what such hope can do in reality, but we can at least give a small attempt towards peace with this work. Through the exhibition, this earnest longing will flow into the world.

 
 

L

Lim Jongup Seoul is a Fortress

archiving project, 2017

 

Land planning carried out under the Park Chung-hee regime, especially the urban planning of Seoul and its corresponding architecture, still constructs the core of Seoul’s urban planning shedding its gloom even until today. The ‘outstanding’ architect Kim Swoo-geun’s collaboration played a large role in this process. The fortification of Seoul was intended to prepare against North Korea’s southward invasion. In reality, it was used as a tool to prolong the dictatorial government. It was indeed important to prevent the war, but the actions taken under the fortification of Seoul resulted in different side effects without ever being used for the original purpose. When you look into the structures, you realize they were constructed in a rush making it difficult to believe that they would have been effective in a case of emergency. The architecture built during the Park Chung-hee era are crude structures constructed on fear. The fortification of Seoul was a ghost with a loud voice. Lim Jongup’s archive reconstructs the fragmented facts through news reports and official documents released during the Park Chung-hee regime. Lim Jongup’s archive reconstructs fragmented facts through news reports and official documents published in the Park Chung-hee regime.

 
 

M, N

Sunah Choi

Seoul 1:10,000

blueprint on wooden panel, 2017

Compositions of  Administrative Districts in Seoul

photogram, 2017

 

A map is a symbol, an abstraction of the real world. A map not only embodies the space but also captures the thought. A map is an informant for moving and positioning and a guide to understanding today’s society. Unlike a digital map that can be continuously updated, a paper map cannot instantly reflect the changes in reality and thus gains its historical value as a momentary record of the era. Sunah Choi created an artistic translation of a 1:10,000 scale map of Seoul published in 2003. The 25 districts (gu) and administrative areas (dong) were selectively enlarged, printed into A4-size blueprints. Each blueprint maps were spliced together on a wooden panel, ultimately creating a completely subjective map of Seoul. In this process, the actual geographical continuity of the area is broken and disturbed, and the vicinity is newly defined. On this new map, regional conflicts and gaps between districts, such as between Northern and Southern Seoul, are hypothetically destroyed and resolved. During the process of creating this new map, the artist omitted specific sites of Seoul where significant events happened throughout modern history. Nevertheless, it is possible to infer or reconstruct the original placeness of these areas marked blue or white. Paradoxically, by omitting and hiding, the sites become more emphasized and apparent. While one can notice this absent information on the map by looking at it closely, it becomes a plastic form if seen from a distance. This is a moment when ‘information’ becomes an ‘image.’

 
 

O

Bae Young-whan

Please, Give Me Some Water

video installation, 2016

 

There is a peculiar sentiment or sorrow of the time captured in popular songs heard and sang by the public at a certain period. ‘Give Me Some Water’ was a track on Han Dae Soo’s first album Long Long Way (1974) that expressed the unquenchable thirst living under the dictatorship, one of Korea’s most turbulent times. The song was forbidden by the government for being dissident. Bae Young-whan’s Please, Give Me Some Water (2016) is set in the Sewoon Arcade and Jangsa-dong area that led the industrialization of Korea.

 
 

P

Bae Young-whan

The Past Also Lasts a Long Time

video installation, 2017

 

The alleys of watch shops in Jongno-gu, Yeji-dong, were formed by merchants originally from Cheonggyecheon Stream, who has moved over to this area in the 1960s. This place had its heyday selling jewellery and watches during the 1970s and the 1980s and is still famous for its watch shops. However, as it is bound to be blocked by the redevelopment zone, many shops are shutting down or relocating to another location, leaving only the empty buildings and old signboards to be reminiscent of the past. Bae Young-whan documented the current scenery of this area in 2017 as photographs and videos. Bae’s work reinterprets the locality of the place, allowing the audience to re-edit the memories of the area.