Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art presents MISE-EN-SCENE an exhibition on view March 28–June 2, 2013, which looks into the interrelationship between film and art and cast new light on the diversity of contemporary art by featuring the works of art that eight domestic and foreign artists created in the 2000s by employing cinematic elements.
Courtesy of MAMM and Triumph Gallery, Moscow.
The French term ‘mise-en-scène’ originates in the theater to refer to the stage arrangement for a theatrical production, but in the field of film its definition is extended to include every visual component that appears in the composition of the shot. Such articulation of theatrical or cinematic space has been reflecting the influence of Western painting that tends to capture and depict a dramatic moment, and at the same time it has been utilized in a variety of ways in the inquiries into the aspects of everyday life and the unconscious in the practices of contemporary art and in the reinterpretation of the histories of art and film.
This exhibition intends to map the possibility of the mise-en-scene aesthetics in the contemporary art scene by observing the works of those artists who incorporate such cinematic tactics. The artistic endeavors of the participating artists—AES+F, Gregory Crewdson, Thomas Demand, Adad Hannah, June Yeondoo, Eve Sussman|Rufus Corporation, Yang Fudong, and Zin Kijong—clarify a passage of contemporary art through their compositions with which the complexity of human emotions is illuminated. These artists’ intricately choreographed images attest to the latest tendency to readopt narrative conventions: Video works in which the scenes from the film classics of the West are recomposed; fabricated photographs resemble film stills; installation works consist both of sets and video images. In this respect, the exhibition allows one to reweigh the diversity of contemporary art in this era of postmodernism.
A crucial necessity of these artworks is one’s viewing attitude to look for details in large-scale works that cannot be easily seen in plates and to attempt to grasp the relationship between the whole composition and its componential parts. The photographs, video works, and installations featured in this exhibition will captivate the viewer with their vivid and animated verisimilitudes that can also be found in the shots of a film. Also, their open invitations to participate and interpret will let the viewer come up with his or her own story.
Curated by Koo Kyunghwa, Curator of Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art
Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art
747-18 Hannam-Dong, Yongsan-Gu,
Seoul, Korea 140-893
Hours: Tuesday–Sunday 10:30am–6pm
Closed on Mondays
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leeum.samsungfoundation.org