11th Seoul Mediacity Biennale: One Escape at a Time

One Escape at a Time, the 11th Seoul Mediacity Biennale, announces its online launch with a new website and online channel for digital projects. Hosted by the Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA), the Biennale also introduces the public program Echoes and the SeMA-Hana Media Art Award.

The online launch of One Escape at a Time marks the beginning of the public initiatives of the 11th Seoul Mediacity Biennale. In tandem with the exhibition that will run from September 8 to November 21, 2021 at the Seoul Museum of Art, a series of digital and physical on-and-offsite programs will take place online as well as across Seoul from now through the end of the year.

The Online Channel, a special section of the Biennale website, is a virtual platform for showcasing projects by selected Biennale participants. The first project, SAMSUNG MEANS REBIRTH (2021), by the pioneering internet artists Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries, is a special seven-episode video series. Released weekly from May 27, the work features the duo’s signature style and humor while pointedly addressing labor conditions, corporate dominance in contemporary society, and our encounters with global capitalism. Subsequent releases of new productions will include the sound work Five Waves (2021) by the Taiwanese musician and composer Lim Giong, and a collaborative project by Johanna Billing with Seoul-based musicians. Alongside these special projects, the Online Channel will also present a series of digital events and documentation over the course of the Biennale.

Echoes is the public program of One Escape at a Time. Taking place inside the exhibition, online, and throughout the city, Echoes encompasses art space collaborations, performances, digital initiatives, guided tours, artist talks, lectures, workshops, and the Network, a citywide project that will disseminate representations of works from the exhibition at public and private locations across Seoul. Further details will be announced in July.

The SeMA-Hana Media Art Award is sponsored by the Hana Financial Group and co-organized by Seoul Museum of Art in conjunction with the Seoul Mediacity Biennale. The award recognizes a participant or participants for their artistic vision and contribution to the Biennale. The recipient(s) will be selected by an international jury in October. Details about the jury and the selection process will be announced in July.

Directed by Yung Ma, One Escape at a Time is conceived as a proposition to reconsider and reimagine our relationship with escapism, particularly in the context of the current popular media landscape. It aims to put forward escapism as a tool for navigating our fractured realities. It embraces and utilizes this frequently misunderstood concept as a means to connect with the troubling world we live in, and to confront some of today’s most pressing and human questions.

The participants of One Escape at a Time, 11th Seoul Mediacity Biennale:

Bani Abidi, Monira Al Qadiri, Amature Amplifier, Richard Bell, Johanna Billing, Pauline Boudry/Renate Lorenz, Chang Yun-Han, Chihoi, Minerva Cuevas, C-U-T (Niels Engström, Aron Fogelström, Victor Fogelström, Valentin Malmgren, Caio Marques de Oliveira, Karon Nilzén, and Ming Wong), Brice Dellsperger, DIS, Hao Jingban, Hapjungjigu, Sharon Hayes, Jinhwon Hong, Hsu Che-Yu, Geumhyung Jeong, Eisa Jocson, Kang Sang-woo, Kim Min, Sarah Lai, Oliver Laric, Li Liao, Life of a Craphead (Amy Lam and Jon McCurley), Lim Giong, Liu Chuang, Mackerel Safranski, Tala Madani, Henrike Naumann, ONEROOM, Yuri Pattison, Paul Pfeiffer, Hansol Ryu, Pilvi Takala, TASTEHOUSE × WORKS, Wang Haiyang, Cici Wu, Chikako Yamashiro, YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES, Tobias Zielony.

One Escape at a Time, the 11th Seoul Mediacity Biennale, is organized by Yung Ma, together with Mi Seok Huh, Nam Woong Hwang, Haerim Jahng, Sunjoo Jung, Shinjae Kim, Jiwon Lee, Sijae Lee, Sinae Park, Claudia Pestana, Juyeon Song, Moon-Seok Yi, and Jiwon Yu.

Graphic Design: Wkshps in collaboration with Park-Langer
Architecture: Leeyongjae Architects
Technical Director: Kim Kyoungho
Editors: Jungmin Lee and Andrew Maerkle

Organizer: Seoul Museum of Art
Corporate Sponsors: Hana Financial Group and Hermès Korea
Biennale Patron: RC Foundation

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