135 WHY
Produced during a residency in Seoul, South Korea, 135 questions starting with “why” are the narration of a video collage of shots collected in the everyday life of the city. The questions have been gathered through conversations with local residents of the city. The video investigates behaviors and moral responsibilities and reflects on the effects of a society based on competition and high standards.
Ask Koreans Who Do Not Ask, by Seon Seung Hye, Curator (Seoul Museum of Art)
Of the 135 questions she will ask Koreans, there are many unexpected ones. She asks about trifling things she discovered in Korea, and to Korean people who do not ask them often, her questions can be strange. They wonder why she is so inquisitive. They can understand what she asks when they listen to her questions asked with her poor Korean pronunciation, realized when paying attention to the questions one by one. Whether the questions are meaningful or not is of no importance. What’s important is the question of why Korean people do not ask such questions more often.
(…) Her attempt to ask questions in Korean, not English, the international language, can be highly appreciated. I praise her will to challenge.
23 minutes color video, 2014
135 Why, Installation detail, Gumcheon Art Space, Seoul