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What compelled you to make this piece? How does this work address issues that are important to you or close to your heart?
This work is the third part of my trilogy, which I started 3 years ago. In the first, I wanted to experiment with the relationship between the movements of a video camera and myself. In the first work, IRIS (1994), I set up my video camera on a tripod in one spot and I manipulated the iris of the video camera. In the second work, FORWARD, BACK SIDE, FORWARD AGAIN (1995), I varied the shutter speed and iris of the video camera with a hand-held camera on the street. My current work, REV (1997), consists of images produced from spinning my video camera on its tripod in the middle of the street. I seek to give visual expression to a highly personal realm of psychology and emotion.
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| From REV. |
How does living in the New York metropolitan area affect your work?
As a student, as a video maker, and as a foreigner, I've been here almost 10 years. My work is intimately linked to my experience of my surroundings: New York. New York is the most crowded and busiest city in the world, truly multicultural. But living in New York, I seek to understand solitude among and within the crowd. I am intrigued by and hypersensitive to the currents that course below the apparent surface of initial perception. My concern is with the associative logic that alludes rational description but finds expression and scope in my work. Since pursuing video art, I have attempted to express myself as a "human being," that is, not as a Korean, an Asian, or a member of minority group. I am apolitical --- and, perhaps, even asocial -- in what I aim to visualize.
In including your work in REEL NEW YORK, do you think your piece in any way pushes the medium of television, or the viewing audiences' expectations of that medium?
In my experiences showing my work on television, I've always had very positive responses from the peers in my field. I believe that compared to other art media, television creates a powerful conduit between video maker and audience. Television gives not only a chance to exhibit one's work to a huge audience, it gives the video maker a chance to think about a new way of presenting one's work to the public. As a New York-based video maker, this program gave me a lot of inspiration to push myself to complete my trilogy.
What about access to the tools of production and post-production?
These days, I am shooting with a digital video camera, and editing with a computer. These tools give me a lot of freedom to make my work. More technology gives me more of a chance to explore visual and psychological possibilities. It is much easier than what I did just a couple years ago. It gives me a new perspective as a video maker. However, technology can overshadow or distort the creative essence of work.
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| From REV. |
Why did you become a film/video artist/maker?
In 1988, I received a Master's degree in Graphic Design from Hong-Ik University in Korea. After arriving in New York, I was exposed to another artistic culture -- in particular, video art. I decided that graphic design was too confining for the thoughts and feelings that I wished to express and convey. Consequently, I started a new major: video art.
Do you feel the New York independent film/video community has changed in recent years? Do you find support living and working in such a large community of artists?
Compared with 10 years ago, when I started video art for the first time, the New York independent film/video community has changed a lot. At that time, as a video artist, one didn't have as many outlets to show one's work.
In 1994, fortunately, I became a video artist for Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI). Through this non-profit organization, I am being offered a lot of chances to show and distribute my works internationally. In addition to support from EAI and the video art community, I've been fortunate to receive financial support from various grants which have supported my artistic career.
Do you have any interesting behind-the-scenes stories about the making of this particular work?
Spinning a video camera in the middle of the street gives a lot of amusement to the people on the street, which I didn't always share. Some people asked me, "What are you doing with your video camera in the crowded street? You are not watching what you are shooting." Actually, I didn't even know what I was doing. I couldn't imagine what kind of visual images I might get with irregularly spinning my video camera.
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