BULGASARI AOTEAROA![]()
A major project which brought leading South Korean sound artists and experimental musicians to Aotearoa.
Throughout June and July 2017, Lee Hanjoo (이한주), Lee Bong Gyo (이봉교), Yukie Sato, Taekyung Seo (서태경) and Soojung Kae (계수정) were in residence at the Audio Foundation HQ in central Auckland where they collaborated with local musicians – producing concerts and recordings while working toward an exhibition for the Audio Foundation gallery.
After the Audio Foundation residency the group travelled around Aotearoa, collaborating with local musicians and artists in a series of events in Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin before returning to Auckland for the exhibition opening.
This series of drawings were made, one per day, starting in November 2016. During that time there was public outcry and large demonstrations throughout South Korea over dissatisfaction with the then current President Park Geunhye. Park Geunhye was eventually impeached and removed from office in early March 2017.
Many demonstrations took the form of peaceful candlelit night-time rallies, and the humble candle flame became a popular symbol of determined resistance to abuse of power, corruption and an authoritarian style of governance. Hyungeun’s images were published via social media in concurrence with many politically engaged events of late 2016 / early 2017, and illustrate in a fairly direct and unequivocal way desires for the future of South Korean democracy.
