The exhibition Work of Rest by Jin Heewoong takes a critical look at the concept of artist residencies. During an eight-day experimental residency in 2015 in South Korea funded by the country’s Art institutions, the South Korean artist carried out a project that examined residency selection criteria and their support mechanisms. These offer funding and space for creation so that artists can devote themselves entirely to their artistic production.
But after immigrating to Montreal in 2017, Mr. Jin had difficulty finding funding, in a system he was unfamiliar with, to exhibit the work he carried out in 2015. “I did not yet understand everything the meaning of my project at the time,” he explains. “Between 2015 and today, I had life experiences, I had two children. And it was difficult to maintain my work rate. »
After studying fine arts at Concordia University and building a professional network here, he finally had the opportunity to exhibit his project at the Dazibao Current Art Center this year. The work reflects the complexity of finding a balance between artistic production and rest as well as the flaws in the residency system.
The concept of his project was to delegate his artistic production to another person, to document this process and the obstacles encountered so that he could rest and examine the complexities of artist residencies. In the exhibition, we can see traces that testify to the steps he took during his residency, such as employment contracts, a video of calls that the artist made during his creative process and photos taken during the experiment.
The artist put out an open call in South Korea to find someone who could take care of his artistic production during a five-day stay in Manila or Japan.
Even though Mr. Jin already knew some of the applicants, he did not prioritize them. He decided to make his selection based solely on the content of the files submitted. He did not want to repeat the common practice of artist residencies; only select artists with whom they already had a connection. The successful candidate was a young art student who chose to spend her stay in Manila. She was chosen because the aesthetics of her practice align with that of Mr. Jin.
“She had to follow my instructions during her five days of travel. I provided him with tickets to Manila and accommodation, and each day I asked him to go to particular places in the city and take photos of specific scenes. »
With a subcontracted artist who would be responsible for his artistic production, Mr. Jin then planned to rest for eight days and socialize with the other artists who were also taking part in the residency. But he quickly noticed that the coordination work with his participant was more laborious than expected.
“Every day she had to call me for ten minutes. But we failed to communicate for two of the five days of his trip! “Once it happened because she didn’t have a wifi signal,” he recalls. “I was very worried when I couldn’t join her, because at the time there was political instability which made it unsafe to go out at night. So, I tried to contact her, it didn’t work and I panicked asking the other artists at my residency: “What should I do now?” »
Critique
After this experience, Mr. Jin concluded that it was not possible for an artist to rest. “I was supposed to be a resting artist and the participant was supposed to enjoy her trip. But in the end, we both fell short of those goals,” he says. The participant also concluded that, for her work, she deserved more compensation than the plane ticket and accommodation she received.
“I was indirectly criticizing the artist residency system, where you have to produce something, like an exhibition or artist discussions. And I wondered: are we paid well enough for this work? » he explains, strongly deploring the lack of funding from the artistic community. “And when you apply for a residency and you’re accepted, you have to apply for a grant, but you’re not 100% funded. Along the same lines, the participant felt exploited. Sometimes we do work, but not all artists sell their work, who are exhibited in galleries, who are represented by a commercial agency. »
He believes that it would be more relevant if residencies were designed according to the specific needs of artists. Mr. Jin cites in particular a residency in New York for single mothers which offers on-site daycare and funding for their artistic production. “We have to ask ourselves if the artist residency system is really there to support artists or if these structures are there to use artists and profit from their production,” he concludes.
