The photograph, being the product of the visual desire of mankind, was a tool that closely and faithfully recorded the life of each generation through the progress of the camera mechanism. From the moment of its invention, photography was an original method to provide new ‘Ways of Seeing’ beyond the limits of the eye and thereby called out a visual revolution. Photography allows people to encounter images of unknown places and people from other cultures, their lives and unexpected situations. This characteristic proves to be an effective medium to look at the present and to imagine the future based on past records.
The exhibition <NEXT IMAGE> focuses on the basic attributes of photography and its functions and the categories that the digital environment extends. It is composed of works that capture the speed, direction and various aspects of modern people’s lives, which have changed in the development of civilization and technology after the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century and through the modernity of the 19th century to 20th century. Because of the industrial technology of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (AI, robot, IoT, driverless car, 3D printing), 7.1 million jobs have been replaced and the middle class represented by ‘average’ disappears. Consequently the fear of polarization is maximized. The phenomena of winner and loser division, self-development craze and winner takes all will be aggravated by the obsession with newness and the speed of change. Traditional methods of photography have been replaced by our acceptance of communication according to the smartphone revolution and the power of Instagram. Looking at modern life is not much different from looking at the images that surround us.
Therefore, <NEXT IMAGE> is a reflection on the value of life simply watched and captured while imagining what kind of future experience will be made possible by the photographic vision of our lives, as dominated by advanced science and technology rushing at the speed of a tsunami. reflects how the desire for infinite dreams and the development of cutting-edge technologies change our selves – our senses, our experience, taste and lifestyle – rather than making our lives easier.
This special exhibition features 22 artists from 10 countries and consists of three sections to faithfully materialize the exhibition theme. 1) re-interpreting official history and individual memories to grasp where the past and the present meet, 2) work paying attention to the nature of photography and its attributes, as they are changed by the digital environment, 3) work that focuses on the portrait and the life of modern people transformed by the development of technology. Each section will be composed not only of photographs, but also of works and records that are fused with the neighboring genres (paintings, movies, sculptures), works that are hybrid.
