Korean immigrants overseas highlighted in Jung Yeon-doo's exhibit at MMCA

Knives made out of sugar, immigrants reenacting their labor for tourists and retelling local folklore of the immigrants of a century ago — irony fills the halls of Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) in "MMCA Hyundai Motor Series 2023."

Artist Jung Yeon-doo stands in front of his 14-meter (46-foot)-tall installation piece “Wall of Blades” (2023) on display at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) Seoul for the "MMCA Hyundai Motor Series 2023" titled “One Hundred Years of Travels,″ during a press tour on Sept. 5. [MMCA]

Knives made out of sugar, immigrants reenacting their labor for tourists and retelling local folklore of the immigrants of a century ago — irony fills the halls of Korea’s largest art museum, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) Seoul, in its annual partnership project with carmaker Hyundai Motor for the "MMCA Hyundai Motor Series 2023."

This year’s spotlight artist is Jung Yeon-doo, a multimedia artist born in 1969 who has been focusing his work on retelling history through various images of the contemporary world and the paradoxical relationship between an individual’s life and the greater history.

Jung has been documenting the life of immigrants and expanding it into the diaspora's discussions since 2015. His works have especially focused on Asian modern history and Korean people’s immigration of the early 20th century amid the human-made catastrophes of war and a clash of ideologies.

Rather than taking a heavy, solemn approach, Jung uses music, poetry and theater to tell the story on the people’s behalf as they’re recorded and rearranged into video and installation works. The same method has been used once again for this exhibition, titled “One Hundred Years of Travels.”

“One Hundred Years of Travels” tells the story of a group of Korean diaspora that immigrated to Mexico in 1905 on the British merchant vessel SS Ilford after seeing advertisements in the newspaper that promised wealth to the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) people. After a 40-day voyage across the sea, the ship arrived in Merida, the capital of the Mexican state Yucatan, where the people were forced to what would now be considered slavery at farms.

The installation piece “Imaginary Song” (2023) by Jung Yeon-doo is on display at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) Seoul for the "MMCA Hyundai Motor Series 2023" exhibition titled “One Hundred Years of Travels.″ [MMCA]

Five multimedia artworks, including installations, videos and voice recordings, have been prepared for the exhibition, four of which were created specifically for this exhibition.

The exhibition begins with “Imaginary Song” in the main hall, where visitors are greeted with gigantic plant-shaped installations hanging from the ceiling, playing voice recordings of different people living in Korea who have been asked to share their experience of living abroad.

The plant imagery then continues into “One Hundred Years of Travels — Prologue” (2022), a single-channel video of a hand puppet show based on the tale of the prickly pear cactus in Jeju Island. Folklore has it that this specific breed of cactus floated to Jeju 200 years ago across the ocean from Mexico and settled down in Korea’s southern island.

“The cactus is a metaphor for human immigrants, whose roots are also pulled out from their original soil and transferred to a different land far away,” Bae Myung-ji, curator of the exhibition at the MMCA, said. “Through the story, Jung invited the audience to think about the idea of the familiar and the strange, generational conflicts and ultimately, the fundamental reason of existence for both people and things.”

Video artwork “Generational Portraits” (2023) by Jung Yeon-doo is on display at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) Seoul for the “MMCA Hyundai Motor Series 2023″ exhibition titled “One Hundred Years of Travels.″ [MMCA]

Artist Jung Yeon-doo's multimedia artwork titled “One Hundred Years of Travels” (2023) is displayed at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) Seoul in an exhibition with the same title. [MMCA]

Video pieces “Generational Portraits” (2023) and “One Hundred Years of Travels” (2023) both tell the story of these Korean immigrants: the former through two video portraits that each flip through clips showing different members of six Korean-descendant families living in Mexico, and the latter through four videos telling the story of Korean laborers working in henequen plant farms making ropes. Henequen ropes were a staple in the regional economy but have since been replaced entirely by synthetic materials, leaving the factories running only for the tourists to watch as a part of their leisure activities.

Finishing off the exhibit is “Wall of Blades” (2023), a self-explanatory work where the 14-meter (46-foot)-wall of the exhibition space is filled with blades made out of sugar. The blades take the shape of different forms of machete knives, which are used around the world to reap crops from the field.

“The subject I chose may be somewhat difficult, but I hope that people will view the works without the heavy weight of history,” Jung told the local press.

“The process of meeting these Korean people and researching and imagining their lives was so interesting, especially as an artist. And I hope that shows through to the viewers too and they have fun with my work.”

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]