THE VOICE

Participating artists: Judith Barry, John Cage, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Jeremy Deller, Mikhail Karikis, Ga Ram Kim, On Kim, Ragnar Kjartansson, Bruce Nauman, Jeanine Oleson, Sei Rhee, Slavs and Tatars

Coreana Museum of Art is pleased to announce the opening of THE VOICE, an exhibition which focuses on "voice," a theme that has been somewhat marginalized although it is already discussed in multiple forms within the visual arts of today. The museum has consistently explored the theme, 'body,' through its diverse exhibitions over the last ten years. Relying on the solid references, unique history and context that the museum has achieved through its previous exhibitions, THE VOICE explores the concept of "voice" from various angles by featuring works produced from the 1960s to today. In this exhibition, "voice" is considered as a critical medium to the field of visual art, not as a subordinate concept.

In regard to genre and medium, the "voice" has intervened in the realm of visual art in a variety of forms, ranging from the Fluxus movement in the 1960s, body art, to contemporary art. In the musical score of Aria (1958), which was composed by John Cage for a voice performance, the artist visually presents vocal pitches instead of notes as a guide to sound pitches, and uses color lines for different styles of singing. In his early experimental video work, Lip Sync (1969), Bruce Nauman creates a rhythmic beat by repeatedly spitting out the words, “lip sync.” As time goes, a physical time lag between the image and the sound of his lip movement leads to a subtle tension. Meanwhile, Judith Barry explores how the voice might be represented visually through her work, Voice Off (1998-99), a two-channel video-sound installation projected on the either side of the shared wall. In Promise Me (2012), a two-channel video by Mikhail Karikis, viewers become aware of the relationship between the ability and inability to speak, especially within the social and political contexts. In Sound Project by 4 Rose (2014-ongoing), Ga Ram Kim introduces her archive of monthly single albums which consist of sound sources that read selected comments from Internet articles based on each theme, regarding those comments in the virtual space as a voice of the majority.

THE VOICE provides an opportunity to rethink "voice," a theme that has been familiar yet not been discussed enough within the field of visual art, by introducing 12 international artists with diverse philosophical, aesthetical, and social perspectives. 

Curated by Jieun Seo

Organized by Coreana Museum of Art

Supported by Coreana Cosmetics Co., Ltd. and  Arts Council Korea

About Coreana Museum of Art
The Coreana Museum of Art opened to the public in November 2003 and has organized exhibitions that focus on a variety of cultural codes such as cosmetics, body, media, and performance alongside other seminal issues in contemporary art, by adhering to its mission to actively embrace and support experimental art. The museum also attempts to interact with other genres by organizing exhibitions and programs that encompass diverse neighboring art genres including music, theater, dance, and literature. The Museum will move forward with our audience as an open art museum where research, exhibitions, and education integrate and hence lead the visual art and culture of the 21st century.