캠프장

Gongju (2015)

Yatoo Gnab International Artist in Residence 야투자연미술국제레지던스 성과보고전 Gongju-si, South Korea, 2015.

In the production realized in the experience of residence I tried to focus my attention on the various aspects of nature as experience of contemplation, in particular I worked on the imagination of the Korean poet Ko Un trying to reinterpret the language through writing poems and creation of audio content that is intertwined with the same themes . I used various media from the environmental registration to painting. Installation is a small camp with tent and elements that recall symbolically to a space of ritual. The nature poems of Ko Un is seen as an important element, and this binds perfectly to the transformation that is inherent in all things. As he says: “The perfect work is the one that leaves no trace.

The installation presents itself as a suspended field of relations—between interior and exterior, memory and displacement, material presence and poetic evocation. At its spatial and conceptual core stands the green tent, an object that simultaneously invokes shelter, transience, and withdrawal. It functions not merely as a sculptural element but as an experiential threshold: a site where the viewer is invited to enter, to listen, and to engage with an auditory dimension that extends the visual grammar of the work. The possibility of accessing the sound both internally and through headphones suggests a dual mode of reception—immersive and mediated—mirroring the oscillation between intimacy and distance that characterizes the entire installation.

The reference to the Korean poet Ko Un operates as an underlying poetic matrix. Rather than illustrating specific texts, the works seem to absorb and translate a sensibility: a deep attentiveness to nature as both a physical and metaphysical condition. This is evident in the fragile, suspended surfaces that populate the space—painted and printed sheets that evoke landscapes, weathered textures, and ephemeral traces. Their materiality appears deliberately unstable, as if resisting fixity, reinforcing the idea of perception as a fluid and contingent process.

The black circle painting introduces a point of visual condensation. Its stark, almost archetypal presence contrasts with the diffuse and atmospheric qualities of the surrounding works. It can be read as a symbolic anchor—perhaps an echo of origin, void, or cyclical time—establishing a dialogue between the artist’s own cultural framework and the encountered Korean context. In this sense, it becomes a site of convergence, where personal and external geographies intersect.

Equally significant is the spatial articulation of the installation. The gallery is transformed into a provisional environment, where elements are arranged not as discrete objects but as nodes within a broader experiential continuum. The wooden floor, the draped blue fabric at the back, and the photographic projections contribute to a layered sense of place—one that is neither entirely constructed nor entirely found. The viewer navigates through this space as through a landscape of signs, each pointing to a relationship between the artist, the territory of residence, and the act of inhabiting. Ultimately, the work can be understood as an inquiry into belonging and translation. The residency context becomes more than a backdrop; it is an active condition that shapes the production of meaning. Through a combination of visual, spatial, and auditory strategies, the installation articulates a poetics of encounter—where nature is not simply represented but reconfigured as a dynamic field of exchange between cultures, memories, and sensibilities.

텐트의 하루
나는 오늘도 천으로 된 집에 산다
바람이 문을 대신하고
지퍼는 하루의 입을 여닫는다
Ko Un의 시처럼
이곳에는 이름 없는 것들이 먼저 도착한다
아침,
햇빛이 얇은 벽을 통과해
나를 깨우지 않고 스며든다
나는 그 빛의 일부가 되어
잠에서 나온다
신발 옆에 흙이 있다
어제의 길이 아직 남아 있다
길은 텐트 안까지 따라온다
나는 듣는다
천 위에 떨어지는 작은 소리들
새인지, 바람인지, 기억인지
구별하지 않는다
이곳에서는
모든 것이 잠시 머문다
나도 그렇다
밤이 되면
어둠은 텐트를 접지 않는다
오히려 더 크게 펼쳐
나를 그 안에 넣는다
나는 눕는다
땅과 아주 가까운 곳에서
지구의 숨을 빌려
조용히 살아간다