DMA - DAEJEON MUSEUM OF ART

Daejeon Museum of Art (DMA) hosts 2021 special exhibition <Trauma: Shooting the Pulitzer + 15minutes>.
Drawn by the COVID19 pandemic, we are living ‘today’ that is never same as ‘yesterday’.
This pandemic is not just an international disaster crisis but a paradigm change in our way of living.
Also it ultimately makes us focus on reviving humanity, on the question of what makes the life humans human for real. Therefore, we now suggest ‘art’ as the answer.

If <Pulitzer> has captured the scenes of yesterday, <15minutes> will capture ‘today’ and ‘tomorrow.’
Life always accompanies trauma- relationship, society, career, what so ever.
Do our depression, anxiety, and trauma really only result in ruin? Or can it remain as the source of life and the inspiration of art?

Trauma is the insightful resource to reinterpret how artists overcome pain and suffering and achieve the sublimation through contemporary art.
It is the time for us to reconsider the role of creativity in healing trauma and loss of Covid Pandemic.
We will explore the patterns of art of a new era and the most creative artistic attitude to face the trauma.
Art helped me recover from post-traumatic stress, and it might help all of us, too.

[Gallery 1 & 2] Trauma : Shooting the Pulitzer

What is it that makes a Pulitzer Prize photo?
This question has made many photographers ponder since the selection of the first award in 1942 until now.
Looking at the Pulitzer Prize photo so far, it seems difficult to give a simple answer. However, they have reached one quality that the Pulitzer Prize seeks. That is excellence.
.
.
A photograph is not displayed alone in an empty space.
The times influence the photography, and the photograph responds to it.
When the two responses are appropriate, the image has established itself as a symbol of the times and conveyed influence to society with the mysterious voice that only photography has.

The Pulitzer Prize photographs that remain as symbols of the times are reminders of past events that affect us today.
Photos are like old notebooks in which facts were recorded. It is a window of memory that brings back those days.
Symbols bring back the past. If we have the wisdom to capture the present moment and understand it, we can get a glimpse into the future.

[Gallery 3 & 4]

It is always not easy to come up with a proper title for an exhibition. In human terms, it is a name.
Therefore once you name it, it goes with for the rest of your life.
Again, the title is truly the beginning and the end of the exhibition , and is also another way of presenting fundamental questions and problems about art.

15 Minutes is a strange title. It is confusing whether the running time of the show is 15 minutes or whether 15 people participated in.
Actually the title is borrowed from Andy Warhol's line "In the Future, Everyone Will Be Famous in 15 Minutes".

In fact, 15 minutes is not a very long time. Yet, it can be an opportunity to see the loved one once more, or to change someone's life or destiny.
In this context, the title of this exhibition, 15 Minutes, refers those moments in life.

The exhibition is divided into five main sections, allowing you to look back on your own 15 minutes.
The first section is inspired by a famous passage from Hermann Hesse's Damian: 'Birds struggle to emerge from their eggs'.
It depicts 15 minutes of all of us searching for our self. The following section is derived from Sigment Freud’s concept that ‘Every dream is the fulfillment of desire’.
It depicts the life of a human being in the fight against endless desires.
The third section talks about the survival of all for a life in which the value of existence is respected, not simply a life to exist.
In the fourth section, we look back on all the good and evil in the name of love that we embrace.
The exhibition concludes with the last section - ‘If there is no freedom of expression, there is no beauty in life’.
It explores the art of the future, which is infinitely free and borderless, and an appropriate attitude towards it.

Art requires prudence and intelligence, but at the same time it cannot be completed without an emotional and contingent element.

The Pulitzer winners since 1946

and

[Intro]
Tobias Rehberger
Superflex
Byron KIM

[Section 1]
Chantal Joffé
Jean-Michel Basquiat
George Condo
OK Seungcheol

[Section 2]
LEE Dongwook
Gilbert and George
KIM Kira
Andy Warhol

[Section 3]
Damien Hirst
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Ai Weiwei
Mario Giacomelli

[Section 4]
PARK Hyesoo
Elliot Erwitt
Martine Franck
Mario Giacomelli
KIM Oksun
BYUN Soonchoel
Philippe Parreno
JEONG Youngdo

[Section 5]
Lev Manovich
JEONG Youngdo
Julian Opie
Philippe Parreno