MMCA Performing Arts 2023: Meditation on YouTube

Artists: Nam June Paik, KAIST Center for Contemplative Science, Kim Guenchae, CIFIKA, Ana Roxanne, Salamanda, Kim Boyong, Godfrey Reggio+Philip Glass, Ensemble TIMF, Akihiko Taniguchi+Hoonida Kim, Hwang Soohyun, Cha Jeamin, Ro Kyung Ae, Nam Junghyun 

MMCA Performing Arts 2023: Meditation on YouTube wants to shine a light on the many tired contemporary people who go on to YouTube—a veritable “electronic forest”—to find some kind of equilibrium for themselves in the midst of their hectic daily life, not to mention the cultural cornucopia going on around them. This includes ways to take care of your mind, relationships based on online platforms, and changes in the utility and role of the arts. What efforts do you make to find comfort in your life these days? Have any of these efforts been successful?

This performative project, which will run for one year, aims to showcase various genres of art. It examines how meditation, once seen as a process of self-discipline and an effort to expand one’s senses and reflect on one’s inner self, is changing in today’s digital and performance-driven society. Recent YouTube videos such as “3-minute Meditation,” “108 Bows,” and “Healing Music Playlists” show that modern people’s attempts to find some kind of equilibrium are becoming more diverse and routine. MMCA Performing Arts 2023 is interested in the fact that social media and platforms such as Instagram and YouTube, as well as electronic media, play an important role in these changes. While paying attention to how an individual’s attempts to attain a healthy inner side are inevitably ambivalent in an achievement-driven society, the title of the exhibition, The project titled “Meditation on YouTube” explores how individuals’ pursuit of tranquility is inherently reliant on electronic media and digital platforms. Additionally, it highlights the susceptibility of mindfulness to be compromised by capitalism.

MMCA Performing Arts 2023: Meditation on YouTube consists of four parts in different periods: Part 1 (Electronic) Meditation with Nam June Paik (May-July 2023); Part 2 Music as Autonomy-Pleasure and Playlists (June-August 2023); Part 3 Noise-Cancelling and Ambient, Body and Voice (September-November 2023); and Part 4 Contemplating Well-Being in the Age of Indulgence (November 2023-February 2024).

Organized by MMCA.