Remember, Sangshin Lee, 2022

July 11 – August 8, Installation, Durham Art Gallery

Some Thoughts, curated by Jung-Chul Hur

‘Some Thoughts’ presents 10 inspiring and experimental short films from young and established Asian artists, ranging from abstract animation to live-action films. Participating artists include university students majoring in film, recent graduates, young creative talents, video artists, sonic artists, and media artists.

Some artists imagine and attempt to visualize distant, invisible, unknown or barely known dimensions, such as space and time. Other artists explore and contemplate abstract worlds, concepts, and ideas.

Artists also reflect on the places they live, the life and nature around them, and transform the images and sounds they capture into unique and poetic audiovisual works. It is also an expression of gratitude for the planet we live on.

We hope that this program will provide viewers with a meaningful glimpse into each artist’s unique and creative artistic endeavors.

Selected artists and films

Total runtime: 30 minutes 20 seconds

Thanet Suksabai, Circular, 2022, 3 minutes 10 seconds, Color, Sound

This abstract animated film explores the birth of the universe. This work imagines that spheres that appear to move freely in space are probably controlled by some rules that we cannot see.

Pasakorn Nontananandh, Indwelling, 2022, 1 minute 50 seconds, Color, Sound

‘Indwelling’ is an abstract experimental animation in which the artist aims to depict the process of perceiving the world outside himself. In such manner of thinking, the artist considered the subconscious as the receptive field and the gatekeeper of the individual mind, absorbing mass of information.

The artist believes that the process of perception is how the external entity exchanges/converts its shape and condition into a different form of energy in the inner world of the individual. Similar to a physical draining hole of the sink, where all the liquid got engulfed into a tiny spot, disappeared from the ‘surface’. Even though the sinkhole appears to be greatly smaller than the mass of liquid. 

From the artist’s perspective, the hole is not the representation of the whole person. It is merely a part visible to the world outside while the enormous ever-evolving invisible part underneath the ‘surface’ is yet to be seen, at least with the naked eye.

Suppakrit Onkerd, Multiverse, 2023, 1 minute 40 seconds, Color, Sound

In the boundless multiverse, countless universes await. This film takes viewers on a journey into different dimensions filled with countless strange and wonderful phenomena. It is an infinite expansion of limitless possibilities and realities.

Chatchai Jandarak, Beginning, 2023, 3 minutes 40 seconds, Color, Sound

This abstract animated film is inspired by the themes of space and time. This work imagines the birth of the universe and, within that imagination, visualizes the infinite repetition of creation and extinction of the universe.

Martsamrit Pasupa, Ordinary Night, 2022, 1 minute 25 seconds, Color, Sound

‘Ordinary Night’ is an experimental film that tells a story through simple images and sounds. This film shows how to look at ordinary objects and find beauty in everyday life, and is intended to find something special in such ordinary everyday life.

Sangshin Lee, Remember, 2022, 7 minutes, Color, Sound

Perhaps the difference between reality and virtuality is the perception of those who experience it. Depending on how one perceives it, it may be real or unreal. Perhaps we in this era are preparing to live within such boundaries. This work is an audiovisual story about the horizon of boundaries in the artist’s own memory.

Chonnikarn Techawongsuwan, Waiting, 2018, 4 minutes 15 seconds, B&W, Sound

We use a clock as a timer that measures an amount of time we are situated in our everyday events. However, each second may not be the same length for people, especially if we are in an action of waiting. It really depends on what we are waiting for, which situation we are in, and how the end of waiting is. Some or perhaps many kinds of waiting involve undergoing unpleasant feelings and the levels of agony of waiting are varying.

No matter, there is hope or not, we cannot control the waiting situations. That time of waiting is suffering and torturing. Like our lives have stopped, and we stuck there as if it will never end. However, this animated film suggests that we are not enduring these feelings all alone, because everyone has to wait at some point.

The original music entitled also ‘Waiting’ which composed by Pawin Teevakul, musically interprets the emotion of agony and adds relevant mood into the film.

Chakrapipat Assawaboonyalert, Longevity, 2022, 3 minutes, Color, Sound

This film records daily life in the countryside, and the artist captured the details of his surroundings from waking up to going to bed over the course of three days.

In general, we tend to like the sounds of various animals or natural phenomena such as rain and wind. On the other hand, we cannot avoid sounds coming from man-made materials or the various tools we use in our daily lives. Like soft or deafening sounds, we experience both likes and dislikes in our lives. Compare this to the cycle of life. Each person can experience the sweet and bitter tastes of life. 

Many things in country life seem to happen the same way every day – morning, late afternoon, evening – but nothing is ever the same. Even though yesterday’s activities may seem the same as the day before, we still feel like we have a goal in mind that life is trying to reach. Therefore, it can be inferred that there is a basic understanding of human preferences. And eventually it will be possible to strike a balance between the two. Rather than being influenced by the likes and dislikes that create happiness and sadness, we will wake up every morning and carry out our new routine calmly and energetically.

Jung-Chul Hur, Reflections 5, 2020, 2 minutes 20 seconds, Color, Sound

‘Reflections 5’ is one of the artist’s series of experimental films with the motif of water reflection. This work switches and connects the two different yet intertwined dimensions that we humans experience: the abstract world and the real world.

The work, which begins with the continuous movement of abstract lines and colors, gradually changes to reveal a riverside house scene where nature and human life are combined. The river seems to reflect the real physical world through abstract images reflected on its surface. The reflected image is full of organic shapes, different colors, and different tones. It is constantly changing, distorting, merging, forming and re-forming, as if resembling the ever-changing and unpredictable nature of our lives and the world itself.

This film can also be seen as a metaphor for how the tranquility of our lives can easily be disturbed and turn into chaos. However, as time goes by, moments of calm gradually return.

Sangshin Lee, Beyond Mind, 2024, 2 minutes, Color, Sound

Our Earth is a place where various people live together. Each of our countless human beings has a unique appearance, values, and thoughts. We are naturally curious about others, communicate with them, help each other, and relate to each other. On the other hand, it seems that because of such differences, they hurt each other and cause pain.

However, unlike the external aspects, the fundamental souls of each of us do not seem to be different from each other. We all have a shining and beautiful soul. We must recognize this and try to get to know and understand each other, and this will enable humanity to move towards a brighter future. 

This experimental video work attempts to express the artist’s thoughts and perspective on this topic.

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Jung-Chul Hur is an artist works primarily with videos and photography. His work has been featured in over 150 international festivals, exhibitions, galleries and TV channels. 

His video art works, which he has been working for 25 years, have been exhibited in numerous venues including Video Lisboa (Lisbon, Portugal 2001); Tampere 33rd International Film Festival (Tampere, Finland 2003); iMAGES Festival of Independent Film and Video (Toronto, Canada 2003); VIDEOEX Experimental Film & Video Festival (Zurich, Switzerland 2003); ’Breakthroughs: New Experimental Films from Asia’ Freer and Sackler Galleries, Smithsonian Institute (Washington D.C., USA 2003); Microwave International Media Art Festival (Hong Kong 2004); Media Art Friesland Festival (Friesland, The Netherlands 2005); 14th Curtas Vila do Conde International Film Festival (Vila do Conde, Portugal 2006); OPTICA: the Gijón International Festival of Video Art (Gijón, Spain 2007); 21st Instants Video Festival (Martigues, France 2008); Kurye International Video Festival (Istanbul, Turkey 2009); Journées des 5 continents (Martigny, Switzerland 2009); 4th In Out Festival (Gdansk, Poland 2010); Video Art Festival Miden (Kalamata, Greece 2011); Athens Video Art Festival (Athens, Greece 2013); Festival Images Contre Nature (Chartreux, Marseille, France 2014); 21st International Video Festival VideoMedeja (Novi Sad, Serbia 2017); ‘Binary Conflict’ ArsTechne Festival (Krakow, Poland 2017); ‘Pool Party 2022’ Microscope Gallery (New York, USA 2022).