Jewyo Rhii
Love Your Depot_LDN
Online Preview and Performance: 1-3pm 27/10/2020
Exhibition and installation: 28/10/20 - 23/01/2021
Korean Cultural Centre UK, Grand Buildings, 1-3 Strand, London WC2N 5BW
Love Your Depot_LDN is presented by the Korean Cultural Centre and Locus+
Designed as a prototype storage space for the artist’s work, Love Your Depot acts as an experimental system which belies the conventional norms of an archive by both housing and exhibiting artworks within a single compounded space. Here, Rhii disrupts the traditional art world cycle by proposing a new lifespan for works of art beyond museum cabinets and archives. Foregrounding the intersections between public and private spaces and those liminal spaces which lie between the two, Rhii’s work exposes what often remains hidden behind gallery walls.
Presenting a selection of her artworks previously archived in London, Rhii negates the practical, and potentially costly issue many artists’ face when choosing whether to keep or dispose of their works of art following an exhibition – a question particularly pertinent for younger artists whose exhibitions may span just days. By inviting a group of emerging artists to utilise the space as a platform for creative performances, Love Your Depot unfolds as a collaborative and participatory project – eschewing the notion of the exhibition as the climax of the life of an artwork.
Beyond KCCUK’s gallery space, Love Your Depo is also presented by way of an online platform. Reflecting upon the traditions of artistic practice to rely on the physicality of an artwork, Rhii challenges this concept by expanding the exhibition to the digital sphere. Creating both a physical and virtual exhibition, that emcompasses the notions of a place for establishing new collaborations and reigniting older relationships, an artwork storage as well as a space to flourish creative activities, Rhii, as critic Charles Esche states “builds conditions in which she can operate without total dependency on the art system”.
Presenting a selection of her artworks previously archived in London, Rhii negates the practical, and potentially costly issue many artists’ face when choosing whether to keep or dispose of their works of art following an exhibition – a question particularly pertinent for younger artists whose exhibitions may span just days. By inviting a group of emerging artists to utilise the space as a platform for creative performances, Love Your Depot unfolds as a collaborative and participatory project – eschewing the notion of the exhibition as the climax of the life of an artwork.
Beyond KCCUK’s gallery space, Love Your Depo is also presented by way of an online platform. Reflecting upon the traditions of artistic practice to rely on the physicality of an artwork, Rhii challenges this concept by expanding the exhibition to the digital sphere. Creating both a physical and virtual exhibition, that emcompasses the notions of a place for establishing new collaborations and reigniting older relationships, an artwork storage as well as a space to flourish creative activities, Rhii, as critic Charles Esche states “builds conditions in which she can operate without total dependency on the art system”.
This project has been supported by FKAA, THe Fund for Korean Artists Abroad, Korean Arts Management Service and the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism.
