Exhibition : JUNG Gil-young / HOMO LUDENS!
To reinstate play in our scale of values – 『HOMO LUDENS!』
Homo Ludens is a term that translates to “Man the Player" which is an idea suggests that play is an essential element of a man and is the central activity in flourishing societies. Here, the word 'play' does not simply mean playing but refers to creative mental activities. Johan Huizinga (1872-1945), the pre-eminent Dutch historian of the twentieth century, saw that "civilization occurs and unfolds in play." This exhibition, "HOMO LUDENS!" is prepared by THEO aims to discover and re-examine "play" through art, which has been in decline since industrial revolution of the 18th century—then it gets accelerated by modern capitalism—which takes rationality, efficiency, and value of money as the prime value.
We all need time for rules that are out of the ordinary—play—to escape from the other rules—the norm—constantly imposed in our daily lives. Such demand presents in any civilized society today. In his book "Homo Ludens", he argued that the traditional definition of human beings, Homo Faber, “Man the Maker” should be supplemented with “Man the Player”.
Jung Gil-young (b. 1963) studied Western painting throughout college and graduate school. Then he became fascinated by the plasticity of clay and the changes in color of glaze after kiln firing in pottery that he encountered by chance. When the painted board meets the fire in the kiln, it draws out the unpredictable colors; then a ceramic with a variety of colors is born. His workspace becomes a space for freedom where the essence of play is achieved through the coincidence and uncertainty involved in the process of squeezing, cutting, baking, and transforming objects. On the other hand, the audience also achieves to ‘play’ space as they participate—as ‘Homo Ludens’—to the exhibition by using and sensing the ceramics.
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| Untitled, 2021, Ceramic, 1360 degres celsius reduction firing, 39 × 39 cm |
Jung's works, including unpredictable objets placed on the board, paintings carved in ceramic wares, and pieces with small freely written letters by hand, seem to be free from having any purpose. When you look at the work carefully though, unlike the sense of humor that his work gives out, it asks philosophical questions. For example, the form of human body, which has become the handle of a mug, is recognized as an artwork itself, but is also a practical accessory—a handle—of a mug. This somehow resembles to us living the modern days of industrial capitalism
His artwork leads us to unfamiliar possibilities. Each possibility twists the well-established concepts and ideas such as time and distance, and it opens sphere where where daily norms are not applied; and therefore, both the artist and the audiences will be led to discover the ‘play’.
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| Man, 2021, Ceramic (1360℃ Reducing firing), 40 × 17 × 15 cm |
The virtue in diligence of Protestant labor ethics emphasized by Max Weber called out the modern need for ‘Homo Ludens’. The reason why the meme, ‘God-Saeng’—means a well-lived life as oneself sticks to daily routine without failure, perfect like God— often with fun images, is the big trend now in Korea, is probably that as depressing as life during pandemic gets, the ‘play’ element within us grows stronger as we, ‘Homo Ludens’ cope with the challenge.
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