Young-jun Tak
@youngjun.takhttps://youngjuntak.net/
Born 1989 in Seoul, South Korea. Lives and works in Berlin, Germany.
Young-jun Tak tries to investigate some of the socio-cultural and psychological mechanisms that are part of shaping certain belief systems in his practice. In the constant bombardment of virtual disinformation, the physicality and materiality of objects gain new meanings. Haptic visuality and manual fabrication are crucial in his work. This type of visuality can generate a different sense of engagement with its certain margin of failure, its slowness, and anti-perfection opposed to mass-produced items, which stands against values that he escaped from in South Korea: competitiveness, tireless renewal, praised rapidity, and consumeristic fascination of the flawless. The artist hopes to provide viewers with some glimpses of the gaps that exist beyond the binary—and in that sense there should definitely be room left for some degree of uncertainty rather than claiming 100% clarification. In order to achieve this, the work often needs to allow itself to be partly self-contradictory. The visual and contextual coexistence of contrasts within each of my works unfolds the intertwined complexity of lives. The “unblockable” physical presence of self-contradictory beings and the engagement with them prevents us from completely erasing or ignoring the other for one, and helps us to understand “things” better.
About the exhibited work
The sculptural installation "Miracles" consists of 12 almost identical figures depicting the Jesus baby with open arms resting in a cradle. The entire surface of each sculpture is covered with black and white pamphlets from orthodox and heterodox Christian groups in Seoul, South Korea, advocating conversion therapy for homosexuals. The propaganda materials are produced and distributed by the country’s conservative Protestant organizations and contain dislike of and warnings against different aspects of gay life. Members of these organizations hand out the homophobic pamphlets to participants in different cities’ Queer Culture Festivals as they also try to physically interrupt pride parades and chant the doomed future of the country threatened by homosexuals. For this agenda, South Korea’s orthodox and heterodox Christian communities speak in one voice, united. According to a new research by Center for International Religious Issues in the country, tens of South Korean Christian sect leaders claim themselves as reincarnations of Jesus Christ or their god. As an example, one of the biggest sects, Shincheonji, which became more infamous as the “deadly super-spreaders” in the course of the first outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, is led by “Chairman Lee” who “contains the spirit of the returned Jesus Christ.”
Young-jun Tak tries to investigate some of the socio-cultural and psychological mechanisms that are part of shaping certain belief systems in his practice. In the constant bombardment of virtual disinformation, the physicality and materiality of objects gain new meanings. Haptic visuality and manual fabrication are crucial in his work. This type of visuality can generate a different sense of engagement with its certain margin of failure, its slowness, and anti-perfection opposed to mass-produced items, which stands against values that he escaped from in South Korea: competitiveness, tireless renewal, praised rapidity, and consumeristic fascination of the flawless. The artist hopes to provide viewers with some glimpses of the gaps that exist beyond the binary—and in that sense there should definitely be room left for some degree of uncertainty rather than claiming 100% clarification. In order to achieve this, the work often needs to allow itself to be partly self-contradictory. The visual and contextual coexistence of contrasts within each of my works unfolds the intertwined complexity of lives. The “unblockable” physical presence of self-contradictory beings and the engagement with them prevents us from completely erasing or ignoring the other for one, and helps us to understand “things” better.
About the exhibited work
The sculptural installation "Miracles" consists of 12 almost identical figures depicting the Jesus baby with open arms resting in a cradle. The entire surface of each sculpture is covered with black and white pamphlets from orthodox and heterodox Christian groups in Seoul, South Korea, advocating conversion therapy for homosexuals. The propaganda materials are produced and distributed by the country’s conservative Protestant organizations and contain dislike of and warnings against different aspects of gay life. Members of these organizations hand out the homophobic pamphlets to participants in different cities’ Queer Culture Festivals as they also try to physically interrupt pride parades and chant the doomed future of the country threatened by homosexuals. For this agenda, South Korea’s orthodox and heterodox Christian communities speak in one voice, united. According to a new research by Center for International Religious Issues in the country, tens of South Korean Christian sect leaders claim themselves as reincarnations of Jesus Christ or their god. As an example, one of the biggest sects, Shincheonji, which became more infamous as the “deadly super-spreaders” in the course of the first outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, is led by “Chairman Lee” who “contains the spirit of the returned Jesus Christ.”