베트남 프로젝트, 2018

2016년, <새들은 날기 위해 머리를 없앤다>를 촬영하던 중, 나는 동반의 한 액세서리공장 대표로부터 ‘유니크’한 디자인을 그들에게 제공해주는 대가로 그 공장의 모든 설비와 노동력을 무상으로 이용하라는 제안을 받았다. 그리고 2018년 초, 하노이에서 1시간정도 떨어진 동반산업단지Đồng Văn industrial park에 한 달간 머무르며 <베트남 프로젝트>를 진행했다. 이곳 공장들의 일부는 자칭 ‘카피캣copycat (오리지널 제품을 베껴서 비슷하게 흉내 내 만드는 것)’을 전문으로 하는데, 어떤 브랜드의 상품이라도 일주일이면 대량복제가 가능하다. 애초에 ‘가짜와 진짜의 경계’를 화두로 삼아온 나는, 직접 만든 반지 원본을 준비했고 이것이 대량생산시스템 안에서 어떻게 변형되는지 지켜보았다.

나는 이 과정에서 원본과 결과물의 간극을 의도적으로 키웠다. 예를 들어, 원본을 만드는 과정에서 미술품 컬렉터로부터 다이아몬드와 진주, 유색 보석 등을 대여받아 18k 금과 함께 세팅했다. 베트남 공장에서는 이 보석과 유사한 모조 큐빅이나 에폭시를 사용했다. 이렇게 공장에서 생산된 6종류의 판매용 샘플은 한국에서 열린 개인전 에서 원본과 함께 전시되었으며, 샘플의 일부는 공장에 남겨졌다.

Vietnam Project, 2018

In 2016, while filming for the piece “The Birds Trashed Their Heads to Fly,” I was offered free use of facilities and labor force by a representative of an accessory factory in Đồng Văn, Vietnam in exchange for providing a unique design for the factory. And so, in early 2018, I started the while staying at Đồng Văn Industrial Park, about an hour from Hanoi. The industrial park is crowded with factories that mass produce the world’s cheapest accessories. Some of these factories specialize in copycat products, imitations of original products, and can essentially duplicate the product of any brand in about a week. In keeping with my original interest in the boundary between real and fake, I prepared my original piece and observed how it was altered within the mass production system.

While I was creating the original piece, an art collector lent me diamonds, pearls, and other precious stones for free, and a diamond-setting specialist helped me with the elaborate setting of these stones. I also used 18k gold for some pieces. The factory in Vietnam used cubic zirconia or epoxy to imitate the precious stones. And yet the six samples-for-sale that the factory produced were sufficiently flashy. The gap between the original and the imitations was at once wide and narrow. The exhibition “How to Arrange Glitter and Gold,” held in Korea, showcased the various stages and aspects of this project in display cases along with the final samples, and a portion of the samples remain at the factory in Vietnam.

Vietnam Project : making film (still cut), single channel video, 05′ 04″, 2018

Vietnam Project : written agreement with KAS, 2018

Vietnam Project : invoice and drawing, 2018

Vietnam Project : drawing, 2018

Vietnam Project : invoice, 2018

Vietnam Project made in Vietnam (01-06), brass, zinc, artificial diamond, 2018

Vietnam Project made in Korea 05, 925silver, 2018
Vietnam Project made in Vietnam 04 (120 editions), zinc, artificial diamond, 0.8×2.2×2.5cm, 2018

Vietnam Project made in Korea 01, 925 silver, pearl, 4x7x5cm, 2018
Vietnam Project made in Vietnam 06 (26 editions), brass, 2.5×2.2×2.5cm, 2018

Vietnam Project made in Korea 06, 925silver, 2018

Vietnam Project made in Korea 05 (left side), 925silver, 2018

Vietnam Project made in Korea 04, 925silver, pearl, 2018

Vietnam Project made in Korea 02, 925silver, 14k gold, diamond, 2018

Group exhibition view (Tricksters, Shinhan gallery, Yeoksam, 2018)

Solo exhibition view (How to arrange glitter and gold, Seum Art Space, 2018)