The title of the exhibition, taken from the concluding line of Jorgen Lethos short film The Perfect Human (1967), refers to a space of temporary suspension of understanding and self-reflection. This characterizes the moment in which the participants of the year-long Fine Arts Master program find themselves in, within the context of their graduation presentation. During their education, their artistic positions are formed and reconfigured in synchronization with or in juxtaposition to the various notions and methodologies prevalent in artistic research and aesthetic production.

The exhibition is an accumulation of the participants’ individual endeavors in the push and pull between personal reflection and the socio-political stances they might feel compelled to adapt to as young artists, while addressing the need to embody the knowledge they have acquired in an intensive research period. Echoing Lethos investigation in the film, where his objective observations do not pertain to offer straightforward answers to his quest in defining ‘The Perfect Human’, this particular exercise opens up attempts as well as alludes to the impossible task of reaching a definitive conclusion.

Perhaps not unlike Lethos concerted efforts to comprehend the world, the students’ works could be seen as their momentary undertakings in establishing and finding their emergent voices during the program. Rather than functioning as definitive positions, the myriad and contemplative works on display could be viewed as openings through which the artists begin to delve into and decipher their respective practices, if only in hindsight.

participants
Anna Ioannidi, Yumemi Kobayashi, Minsung Park, Uzine Park, Ika Putranto, Heekyung Ryu, Clara Turchi, Alejandro Vasquez, You-Na Wang, Audrey Wang, Yinan Wang and Gayane Yerkanyan

curator
Christina Li

www.mahku.nl