collection
In the various showcases of Flohmarkt, many objects that have almost lost their functions are being displayed. From things used and thrown away by someone, a postcard sent to someone from someone dozens of years ago, a photograph of landscape, a toy containing someone’s childhood memory, to books, LPs, kitchen wares and picture frames. Those were like stories which certain memories between people naturally kept going. Traces of various people kept going contained inside an object. Objects were not bought for its value of function but it felt like it was for experiencing someone’s memory or reminiscence. What is more is that it is a place where one can collect at a very cheap price if one bargains well. Value is made by something that has been recorded between people, not by quibbling over the object’s own function.
This work starts from analogizing a certain value on objects inside the many boxes. I took steps into the past about the object which was contained originally, or about what value the empty box had possessed in the past. I drew the innate object that was contained in the box the way it was or secretly put something of what I had in it, took a picture and then made a drawing of it. This was done because I wanted to mix my memory inside memories of people there. At first, I worried; in which way can I understand part of the people here? I believed that the answer to this question was objects which people have left behind. So I visited Flohmarkt every week.
Among the many objects, I began to become interested in objects containing as much as the contained contents. During the process of searching old containing things, which were hand-stained by someone such as boxes, big bowls, paper boxes, and etc, rather than their contents, I have progressed with the work of drawing boxes (treasure boxes) after collecting them in photographs. Along with the objects that were being contained, one can discover vague trace and recalled value of objects that are containing. And the characteristic of what it contains can be very different according to people’s values.
15/3/2010
Notes from Frankfurt
Here, in Frankfurt, I can see the sky full of vapour trails every day. That was like drawings made naturally above the sky. So I wanted to capture those drawings in photographs. Frankfurt is the gateway of Germany and Europe. The distance between the city and the airport is very close and the flight route which departs and arrives in Frankfurt is extremely complicated. This airway is the fruit of dynamic relationships among countries concerning international politics. It is the path which is permitted only when politics with countries in the vicinity and their diplomatic relationships are friendly. This is the reality of Frankfurt and it is also her role within this wide continent. The sky of Frankfurt in the day time is always filled with vapour trails, and at night, with airplane position lights. At day time, you can see airplanes drawing and crossing hundreds of lines each at different altitudes. The view was grandeur. So I have made an attempt to shoot photographs of these vapour trails in panorama. When airplanes pass by and time flow for a while, the form of vapour trails slowly change, which looks as though its image slowly changes into an image similar to that of chromosomes or cells of humans.
I have spent a lot of time on building rooftop after 7pm almost every day in order to take a picture of the night plane. I was amazed by the burning moon of the night sky, and the not-many-visible stars, radiantly shining satellites, and the position lights, which took over half of the sky’s light, were sparkling. I began to follow the sky way of airplanes with about 30 seconds of exposure in order to collect the position light line. So position light that started with a dot turns into a very rhythmic line due to photographs. There are 5 types of lights in private airplanes; the anti-collision light, navigation light or the position light, the landing light, the taxi light and the logo light. These lights flicker repeatedly, each with their own rhythms. Therefore, one can experience the line of rhythm that has repeated in different times on the line which has been made when it was transferred into photographs. The night line works are shown in images of those which had been collected in photographs and printed out of an ink-jet printer.
3/2010
Notes from Frankfurt.
