PARK Seong Jun, #Tribunalism, 2023, 2 computers, 7 UV lights, 9 wall lamps with smart bulbs, 4 speakers, 8 wireless headphones, 1 projector, 3 leather sofas, 2 leather carpets, approx. 9 min, dimensions variable © PARK Seong Jun

#Tribunalism is a media installation consisting of excerpts of scenes from the artist’s interactive exhibition/performance titled 《Cinema Experience, With Space Without Screen II》 (2021).

As anxiety and desires in contemporary society grow at the same time, the psychological boundaries of individuals as well as groups collapse while people are replacing one’s own anxiety with the anxiety of others and “substituting one desire for another” (Alain de Botton, Status Anxiety, 2004). The work audiovisually depicts the violence and conflict structure of a relationship that is never simple in this process.

The work cinematically edits the fragmented voices of the so-called “those who can’t go on without going crazy” and “those who don’t see they’re crazy” to create a sense of psychological terror and tension, revealing multiple layers of desire. Symbolically revealed through fragmentary words and sentences are the insanity that the media produces and encourages in collusion with the capitalist system and the schizophrenic conditions that come from it.

In this work, it is possible to hear common phrases in our daily lives, such as “I loved you” and “It’s all in the past,” or clichés that often appear in the news or movies. Although these phrases and clichés are not visible, but they sound like a poignant sound sculpture that sparks a myriad of imagination.

There are fragments of a voice that appeals to authority, as in testimony at a trial or hearing, or one that reveals itself in an intensely personal tone, which interlock and mutate with slight differences. It suggests that conflictual relationships that appear to stem from oppositional structures are not actually defined in terms of good and evil or black and white.

For example, a threat to render the present obsolete by preempting the future is revealed as a situation in which the voices of those who are sacrificed or excluded under the arbitrariness of the law exist outside the law just like the sovereign.

In the exhibition, three sofas occupy the space, symbolizing beings outside the boundaries of the so-called “law of integrity.” In this fictionalized situation with blatant references to reality, the audience goes through an indirect experience of becoming the subject or object of desire.

Although the work depicts a very specific situation, the emotional universality is segmented into different sections. It invites the audience to reflect on the interaction between social reality and the inner world of individuals.

Elaborately designed interactive sound and lighting effects are combined with the exhibition space, which is set up like a movie set with sofas, objects, and walls with wainscoting. This provides an optimal environment for the audience to be immersed in the work.

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