Dongsam Park

The base of my works starts from deconceptualizing a symbol. It starts from self-questioning of escaping from the fixed idea recognized in things. It comes from the question of changing the view of understanding object to other directions. Especially, when deconceptualizing from the material or functional nature of things, I think, finally we can have a chance to imagine freely. What was born by this is a series of Departure presenting today.

When emptying inside of object and it exists only in a shape, things are losing original material characteristics, functional nature, and completed its own symbol. If a cognitive form is valid on a certain object, we still designate its own function of a things but it’s not wrong even if is nature is replaced by new things. Bag is bag but as soon as a bag loses its function, the symbol by conceptuality and materials falls to pieces and disassembled and whence nature of object becomes free. Deconceptualization on the fixed idea is amplified in the situation when we believe that we can’t or don’t see inside. As concept is deconceptualized, the real concept is newly produced.

My intention for this work is based on the past when living spaces were often changed. I was always curious about baggages people were carrying in airports. Although the baggage didn’t have special features, the baggages looked differently to me. I thought that each bag contains an individual’s story so it would be very different and specail. I became to wonder the stories each baggage carries. Even in the common street, whenever I saw a travel bag or a big box, I was captured by the subtile emotion that many emotions are crossed over like travellers‘ excitement, busyness of fast moving people, sadness of leaving loving one, tension to leave for new life and thrill, and so on.

To harvest such emotions and memories, my works emptied the inside by casting travel bags and big boxes with glass tape and molded out to express its silhouette. We recognize a baggage or box as a real object which has a specific quantity and quality but this recognition can be expanded in that the baggage or box can’t be used as an actual bag any more. Especially considering that most traveller’s bags and boxes are not transparent, by making the inside of works transparent, the audience was able to put anything to the empty space with their emotion or will. Hence, the series of Departure is a interesting window where diverse levels of imagination and their own interpretation are possible. It isn’t just a baggage but a space listening to our voices from deconceptualizing and creating our own stories.