Samin Son, in his Korean riot police uniform, occupies the small, allocated window space of the Dunedin Community Gallery. His method, derived from earlier works of his Tooth Paste Action Series, is to make the window a visual medium through a layer of toothpaste – which is spread out directly from the tube in the initial stages of the performance (discarded toothpaste packaging on lie in front of the window). From the outside, the transcription is backwards and difficult to decipher but Son’s movements are visible. Once the window has been filled with his transcription, Son reads aloud the ‘window page’ over an amplified sound system. Once the transcription has been read, Son smudges out the segment and continues transcription from where he finished – he repeats this process for two days, 9am until 5pm. At the end of the second day the window is washed clean. The visual effect of this technique, combined with Son’s dress and his confined window space, create a fluctuating sense of the roles played in the performance. When considering the content of his transcribed work, Michel Foucault’s essay ‘Panopticism’ from Discipline and Punish, the role of surveillance and the role under surveillance seem to shift between Son and the audience. In uniform, Son is like a prison guard but the confined space he works in is like a prison cell. Passersby can see Son at work, whether they choose to look or not – putting Son under surveillance – but ironically the window he works on displays a government web link consequently reminding the audience that they too are under surveillance. Overall, the performance is unsettling. The audience comes and goes as they please, curiously looking in the window, but Son grows visually exhausted from the process. His performance is regulated by the potential of having an audience – and like the central concept of Panopticism – he works in anticipation of viewers. I have sense of guilt as I watch him as it is my consumption of the performance that drives him to continue in this arduous task. Samanthan McKegg, 17 March 2014
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 07:02:53 +0000
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