Instead of an Afterwards

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Korean Cultural Center in Hong Kong presents the first 2022 Open Call exhibition ‘Instead of an Afterwards (與其在以後)’. Curated by CHOE Nowk, the exhibition ‘Instead of an Afterwards’ reconsiders existing priorities, which are categorized into things that need to be done urgently and things that can be done later. For this purpose, artworks intentionally refer to different time zones. By dealing with something that is not “here and now”, ironically, it looks at current trends, highlights their resonating ideas and draws out much deeper connections than seem present on the surface, negating the distinction between a series of times and timeliness.

The five artists — Jaekyung Jung, Daniel Schine Lee, Hyejoo Jun, Suyon Huh and Rong Bao — who are inevitably forced to focus on the subject of timeliness, provide a variety of new perspectives to deal with today by embracing their own reference points and respective attitudes toward different times.

The Korean Cultural Center in Hong Kong, which is the site of the exhibition, enhances this intention. This is due to the context of Hong Kong, where commercial market forces affect artistic discourse beyond the realm of pure art, and the ambiguity of a cultural center which isn’t a general gallery. When dealing with the subject of “timeliness,” it can be said that the perception of plurality is a very important factor to point out such obsessions instead of insisting on certain criteria.