HAEIL KWON
Space After Spectacle

Once the shantytown on the hills was bulldozed, an apartment complex with a rich town’s name took the place. Out of the fear of losing a competition and despite the price premium for being close to a flashy neighborhood across the river, I ended up buying a unit. While this numbered rectangular space built on the air is legally mine, I am anxious. The concern of selling this property already gives me a headache, although I just bought it.
About five decades ago, Guy Debord has warned the world that it would be full of people just like me. He named the particular loss of inherent worth and the form of worshipping commodities as “spectacle.” Spectacles have degraded us into spectators no longer capable of reasons and emotions. While we are surrounded by us on all directions, we ostracize ourselves.

Author
Born in Daegu in 1977, he lives in Busan while going to university. He started photography through the university's black-and-white photography club in 1995, and earned master's and doctoral degrees under the theme of photography education. Starting with his first solo exhibition in 2017, he participated in several individual exhibitions and a number of group exhibitions other than the Jeonju International Photography Festival. The artist sympathizes with Guy Debord's view of "non-place non-place" places and spaces, which are characterized by modern society's capital and image, and Marc Auge. He works on photography on residential culture and environment, as well as the connection between cities and people, urban environments, and individual lives.

Instagram
@kwonhaeil

BACK TO GALLERY