Waiting M

Waiting M stems from thoughts on the experience of death, triggered by the view of the cemetery outside the artist’s studio window and the images of the rectangular boxes, round domes, and ceiling inside.
At the end of the twentieth century, in the mid-1990s Korean horor drama M, a green-eyed protagonist warns of the end of mankind due to a virus. On October 28, 1992, many people gather together in the belief that their bodies would be lifted up to heaven, but only one moth is able to ascend to heaven. On December 31, 1999, people gather at Seoul’s Jonggak Station and listen to the sound of the bells as they await the end. On December 31, 2020, those who can no longer gather together greet the end by listening to a virtual bell in a virtual space and begin to wait again. The video consists of images, sounds, and stories exchanged with people on the web to avoid boredom while awaiting the world’s doomsday.

Waiting M is one of five films presented by the 19th edition of the Experimental Film and Video Festival in Seoul – EXiS, as part of a special selection on e-flux Video & Film streaming for two weeks from August 18 to September 1, and accompanied by a conversation between EXiS 2022 programmer Inhan Cho and e-flux’s Lukas Brasiskis. See the full program here.

The program is part of the series Festival Forum on e-flux Video & Film, presenting collaborations with established and emerging moving-image festivals from around the world.

For more information, contact program@e-flux.com.