Heaven BAEK has focused on the (in)tangible spaces and times shaped by individuals’ relationships and networks, as well as the (in)visibility of narratives that emerge from them. Her work often critically examines the ideologies of documentation and representation, engaging with the nature of media. To do so, the artist traverses micro-communities and national frameworks, constructing platforms that embrace individual voices submerged beneath official narratives.

In this exhibition, BAEK investigates a specific audio archive housed in the Berliner Phonogramm-Archiv at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin. The archive contains recordings of Korean migrants in Russia, captured during World War I at German prisoner-of-war camps. By collecting, extracting, reinterpreting, and editing these sounds, BAEK layers them onto today’s imagery. This process evokes the structures of national ideologies and governance within the intersecting micro- and macro-histories of migration. Ultimately, her work confronts the extended present as a continuation of the past.

Credit

Participating artist : Heaven BAEK
Curated by KIM Sung woo
Text by KIM Sung woo

Sound : YOON Jaemin
Space construction : Mujindongsa
Photo : CJY ART STUDIO (CHO Junyong)

Supported by Arts Council Korea, 2024 ARKO Selection Visual Art

Sponsored by Art District_p, GONGMISA, Bugi Rental, Agyangjujo