In the exhibition ‘2020 Artist of the Year’ exhibition, where the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art selects and introduces the most notable artists, artist Jung Yoon-seok (39) dealt with real stone face-to-face. The scene of the real doll factory introduced in the documentary.
Senji Nakajima (63), who is famous as a “love doll uncle” in Japan. There are five human-sized dolls in his small house. Although he is the father of a wife and two children, he lives apart from his family, taking a bath with Realdoll, watching TV, and sleeping together. He says he bought a doll for the purpose of satisfying his sexual desire at first, and he says, “It’s good that dolls don’t betray me.”
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea’Artist of the Year’ nomination
Director Jung Yoon-seok’s’Tomorrow’
“A huge dismissal for both material and candidate selection”
“Artistic reproduction, insist on withdrawal of work”
It is a part of the documentary film’Tomorrow’ of the visual artist and film director Jung Yoon-seok, nominated for the ‘2020 Artist of the Year’ at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. This work, currently on display at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, is currently engulfed in a controversy about’female hatred’ because it is based on a real doll (female body doll, aka sex doll). It is another aspect of the domestic debate over real-doll income.
In the exhibition ‘2020 Artist of the Year’ exhibition, where the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art selects and introduces the most notable artists, artist Jung Yoon-seok (39) dealt with real stone face-to-face. The scene of the real doll factory introduced in the documentary.
Earlier in 2019, the Supreme Court ruled, “It is illegal for the Korea Customs Service to withhold real doll import customs.” However, since the Korea Customs Service has not allowed individual companies to apply for import customs clearance, related lawsuits are continuing. The Korea Customs Service and civic groups are in the position that “it is a product that seriously damages the dignity and value of a person by expressing the body naked, and it is a product that harms sexual customs.” It does not mean that it has seriously damaged a person’s dignity and value.”
The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art’s’Artist of the Year’ is a project that introduces artists who pay attention the most every year. The exhibition, which opened on December 4 last year, has been suspended for about a month due to the prevention of Corona 19, and has been meeting visitors again since the 19th. Four nominated writers for the ‘2020 Artist of the Year Award’ were Minae Kim (39), Seulgi Lee (48), Yunseok Jung (39), and Heeseung Jung (46). Jung presented a work consisting of a film and installation of photos and videos. Among them,’Tomorrow’ unfolds the story of Senji, a figure who lives with a doll in Japan, and Matsuda, a figure who presents an artificial intelligence robot as a political alternative, showing a naked scene of the labor scene at a sex doll factory in China.
In the exhibition ‘2020 Artist of the Year’ exhibition, where the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art selects and introduces the most notable artists, artist Jung Yoon-seok (39) dealt with real stone face-to-face. Real-doll image in the work introduced in the documentary.
As the material is the material, the process of making products at the factory is full of frowning scenes. Women’s body parts such as buttocks, genitals, neck, legs, and face are exposed to being roughly handled by factory workers. A photographic work captured by stopping some scenes was also exhibited. Although it is premised that it is part of the production process, each image is a scene of a violent image as if the human body was cut off. Is it an art that undermined the dignity of women? Or is it the author’s warning to face the reality we are struggling to ignore?
Some of the exhibitors posted on social media and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art’s YouTube channel, claiming that “the author uses sex dolls as the subject matter of his work, and that public institution nominated for the’Artist of the Year’ is a huge misogyny.” do. In addition, he argued, “It is misogynistic to talk about a man’s’wounds’ over a female body that has become an object in Korea, where dating violence is a social issue,” he said. On-line, the hashtag “#Artist of the Year_Jung Yoon-Seok_Candidates Deprived” has spread.
In the exhibition ‘2020 Artist of the Year’ exhibition, where the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art selects and introduces the most notable artists, artist Jung Yoon-seok (39) dealt with real stone face-to-face. Real-doll image in the work introduced in the documentary.
However, the artist said, “I wanted to ask the question of what humanity is in the film through the aspects of life that individuals choose in a changing era. Specifically, I wanted to talk about human contradictions.” In response to the written question sent by this magazine, the author said, “Depending on the point of view, there will be people who are uncomfortable looking at the subject of this movie.” But through that discomfort, we will see the reality that we are trying to ignore. Replied. He continued, “What is clear is that the problem consciousness shown in this new work is the future that will come soon and the questions to be solved.” “The title of’Tomorrow’ also has an ambiguous meaning from that perspective.” The artist also explained, “In the first half of the film, I criticized the capitalist society that commercializes humans, and in the second half, I tried to objectively view the contradictions and distrust of humans.”
Regarding this, the art world is in a position that “depending on the perspective of the artist, the artist may be displeased with the method of artistic reproduction by using real stone as a subject, but it is excessive to assert that the work should be withdrawn after deciding it as’excitement’.”
One expert curator said in a conversation with the magazine that “in the realm of reproduction, it’s art to be able to deal with things that many people find offensive or disrespectful of.” In addition, art critic Choi Yeol said, “Unless the work directly or straightforwardly exceeds ethical standards, it cannot be considered an appropriate and proper attitude to tailor it from a specific perspective.” “The assertion that only my thoughts are absolutely right about art and society can be violent,” he said. “Wouldn’t it be more desirable to have more people discuss and reflect on art together this time? “I asked.
Jung has been working on documentary video that highlights the relationship between personal life and social events. In 2014, he released a documentary “Nonfiction Diary” about the arrest of the Zon faction and the collapse of Seongsu Bridge and Sampoong Department Store, and also published a documentary “Bamseom Pirates, Seoul Fire,” based on the National Security Act in 2016. The exhibition is until April 4 next year.
Written and Photographed by Eunjoo Lee, Senior Culture Reporter [email protected]