Category: 9dragonheads

Jessy Rahman goes to Istanbul with Korean group Nine Dragon Heads, joining the parallel events program of the 15th International Istanbul Biennial, September 14th – October 4th, 2017.

---

About Nine Dragon Heads

The Environmental Art Symposium Nine Dragon Heads, was initiated in South Korea by Park, Byoung-Uk in response to the destruction of an important historical site in 1995, and has evolved from the specific eco-political motivation into an open, interdisciplinary platform where an association of artists from all over the world implement individual and collaborative art projects related to humanitarian, political, environmental and cultural issues.

The emergence of the environmental art initiative Nine Dragon Heads was inspired by concern over the natural, cultural, historical and archaeological landscape of South Korea and coincided with a period of industrial rise and profound political change. Arising in the context of economic and infrastructural development, South Korea was a country actively positioning itself on the global socio-political, educational, artistic and cultural scene.

The origins of Nine Dragon Heads are part of a distinct continuum of artistic development in Korea, beginning in the 1980s and 90s with a small group of artists (contemporaries of Park, Byoung-Uk) who wanted to consider artistic and philosophical problems outside of traditional Korean art forms and who were motivated to remain under the radar of the military regime and government control in place at that time. In that political environment a significant thread of South Korea’s contemporary art development took place in off-site projects, held within rural mountainous areas and remote natural sites.

During twenty years of activity Nine Dragon Heads has evolved out of specifically formative geo-political and art historical backdrops to investigate a broader range of transitional environmental, economic and political situations. A further important step for Nine Dragon Heads began in 2006 when it became actively nomadic. The large number of international artists who attended Nine Dragon Heads events through its formative years continually confronted the project with the kinds of conceptual considerations that arise in international conversations about the globalization of art practice and politics of locality. It was a natural progression for the project to begin to engage with other specific localities and their eco-political histories by traveling.

Working in locations with transitional characteristics that may be environmentally, economically and/or politically troubled, on important cultural, historical and geopolitical routes has become a particular feature of working within Nine Dragon Heads. It is noteworthy that Nine Dragon Heads is an inherently flexible model capable of responding perceptively and with focused spontaneity to the inevitably unexpected contextual conditions which occur within the immediate surroundings of each location the group is engaging with artistically.

Nine Dragon Heads has worked on locations throughout the South Korean Peninsula and its islands, including the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and Joint Security Area (JSA) between the North and South of Korea. Other areas recently engaged include Bosnia/Herzegovina, the South Caucasus; Georgia, and Central Asian locations; Uzbekistan, Turkey, China, Tibet and Mongolia. Past projects have also taken place in Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand and Brazil.

Read more on: http://9dh-istanbul.com