The Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) has announced the list of 49 participating artists and collectives for the 13th edition of the Seoul Mediacity Biennale. Entitled Séance: Technology of the Spirit, the biennale is curated by Anton Vidokle, Hallie Ayes and Lukas Brasiskis.
Spanning from the mid-19th century to the present day, the exhibition delves into how the engagement with mystical and spiritual elements have continuously influenced modern and contemporary art. The exhibition’s title draws from spiritualist, cinematic and psychoanalytic traditions, aiming to evoke a space of heightened perception. The Biennale opens up new possibilities of rethinking how humans understand consciousness, identity and the connections to one another.
“This exhibition is both a historical study and a living séance – a means of connecting with ideas and energies that transcend conventional modes of perception. In an age marked by systemic crises, many artists are turning to alternative ways of knowing as acts of resistance and repair,” shares the curators.
Artists and collectives include:
Aki Onda
Amit Dutta
Angela Su
Anocha Suwichakornpong
Anri Sala
Byungjun Kwon
Colectivo Los Ingrávidos
Emma Kunz
Ernest A. Bryant III
Georgiana Houghton
Guadalupe Maravilla
Haroon Mirza
Hilma af Klint
Hiwa K
Hsu Chia-Wei
Hyung-Min Yoon
I Ching Systems and Artworks
Jane Jin Kaisen
Joachim Koester
Johanna Hedva
Jordan Belson
Joseph Beuys
Kara Ditte Hansen
Karrabing Film Collective
Kivu Ruhorahoza and Christian Nyampeta
Kray Chen
Laura Huertas Millán
Lucile Olympe Haute
Manuel Mathieu
Maya Deren
Mike Kelley
Minjeong An
Mohamed Gaber
Nam June Paik
Onisaburo Deguchi
ORTA (Alexandra Morozova and Rustem Begenov)
Rafael Queneditt Morales
Rudolf Steiner
Seung-taek Lee
Shana Moulton
Sister Mary Corita Kent
Sky Hopinka
Suzanne Treister
Takamine Go
Tamar Guimarães and Kasper Akhøj
Violette Astier
Wing Po So
Yin-Ju Chen
Zai Nomura
The Biennale will feature newly commissioned works, as well as a comprehensive film and sound program that will be presented not only at SeMA’s Seosomun-dong location but also across multiple venues throughout Seoul.
The Seoul Mediacity Biennale was founded in 2000 as an initiative to explore developments in new media technologies, art and the contemporary environment of the city. Previous curators of the Biennale include Misook Song, Wonil Rhee, Jin Sup Yoon, Byong Hak Ryu, Sunjung Kim, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Jeremy Millar, Barbra London and Yuko Hasegawa.
Séance: Technology of the Spirit runs from 26 August to 23 November
