Dance Practice
Medium: Video Installation
Size: Variable Size
Date: 11/2022
Project Video: https://youtu.be/yuHFFSwmCTc
Exhibition Video: https://youtu.be/ukXvT1V6igw
As a product of the development of a patriarchal society since the 1990s, the Korean female groups culture and its related fans culture is mainly shaped by entertainment industry, and there are certain types under this cultural category, which are classified by costumes, musical and dancing styles , such as sexy, cute or powerful. This project is a three-videos installation explaining uniformity of the two cultures.
In the current era, those group members’ images are mostly spread by music videos where the typical camera movements are utilized to present beauty as well as dance, and the members do not have the right to decide from which angle they are captured. These camera movements go viral in fans’ imitation videos of specific dance clips, which illustrates how they want to show bodies in videos. The first video in this project is a combination of camera movements taken in a dancing studio, where ghosts seem to exist and the absence of bodies accentuates the replication.
For the imitation videos, fans are also eager to practice their dance and expression until they reach the standards of idols. I also try to practice three types of dance in the second video.
In Asia, there are many dance studios teaching dance of Korean female groups. Fans often hold an activity called Random Dance where people learning those types of dance gather together to play female groups’ music randomly and dance together. In the third video, I recorded the activity through slow shutter at a top view angle to blur those individuals’ personalities. During that process, this activity reminds me of religious ritual and cheering team of sports competitions.
In addition to the three channels video installation, in the sound design part I mixed the sound clips of Korean female groups saying hello (in Korean ‘hello’ sounds like ‘Aniasayou’) to the camera, the recording of footsteps and humming when I was practicing dance to emphasize the uniformity of the culture and immerse audience in the alienation of the exhibition space.
