[Interview] Media artist who reinterprets Contemporary Systems as Art
Interview with Youngkak Cho an artist of ‘ART IN METAVERSE’ exhibition by journalist “Choi Tae-wook”
“We all live under the influence of systems or environments, which we call ‘society’s systems.’ I am an artist who talks about these systems. I believe that as an artist, it is my role to express various contemporary situations from my own perspective.”
Artist Youngkak Cho(37) is an early adopter when it comes to embracing cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence, coding, and fusion. He has been fully immersed in these areas for over a decade. The generative art, which was in the limelight earlier this year due to the ChatGPT frenzy, is also an old repertoire of Cho’s. This stems from his artistic views. Jo believes that “expressing our stories through art is the mission of an artist” and that “delivering contemporary stories in contemporary ways is the most ideal.” He delved into the world of digital and media art, even incorporating the sound of crickets during his undergraduate years majoring in Western painting.”
Eccentric artist who adds technology to art: A maverick in the art world explores the intersection of art and technology
Youngkak Cho(37) never had to ponder about his lifelong career path. Art, which he first encountered at the age of four, naturally led him to his future. With a strong passion for painting and exceptional talent, he had no reason to consider any other path. He grew up surrounded by art throughout elementary, middle, and high school, and went on to study art in college as if it were a preordained path.
Until then, painting was simply a means of expression. He focused on creating something out of nothing through the use of brushes or pens. However, things started to change during his freshman year of college. Although he had been drawing all his life, he began to discover its true essence in a new light.
“I just enjoyed drawing, but my perspective on art changed significantly when I entered college. I started to focus on the ‘story’ conveyed through the painting. That’s when I began to think of myself as an artist.”
As he focused solely on the stories he wanted to convey through his art, the boundaries of his tools began to crumble. This was also the time when the iPhone and YouTube were emerging, and he repeatedly questioned whether relying solely on brushes and canvases was the right way to go, as he experienced the explosive expansion of the media world firsthand. His media-oriented approach, which included web, coding, and video, was the product of intense contemplation at the time. According to the artist, “Through artistic experiments using digital and media, I felt that the range of expression was tremendously expanded,” and he recalled, “Even though I was majoring in fine arts, and my professors didn’t pay attention to it, my desire to personally explore its infinite possibilities was even greater.”
“What interests me is various kinds of systems. I explore systems between nature and human, human and machine, objects and society, technology and culture, and so on. By actively incorporating digital technology into these systems, it becomes even more intriguing. It’s in the distorted and unfamiliar where I discover new possibilities and perspectives.”
Highly personal, therefore all the more social
Cho defines his artistic philosophy as ‘System Grey-hat.’ ‘Grey-hat’ is a computer term referring to a hacker who is not a black-hat with malicious intent or a white-hat with protective intentions, but rather one who takes a middle-ground approach to present only the artist’s perspective. For this reason, all of his works always start from a personal point of view. The artist’s personal thoughts on facing the system become the subject of the work, and the message of the work is left open to the interpretation of the individual viewer.
Cho’s 2019 work ‘Chair Walker’ is a piece that clearly displays his artistic philosophy. It reflects the fatigue he felt while juggling work and artistic activities after graduating from university. Jo said, “When work gets too boring, I even imagine that all the chairs in the office have run away,” and he explained that he implemented this idea into an actual project using motors and sensors. It’s a hacking of his own system in daily life, but viewers inevitably see themselves reflected in the work. Additionally, contemporary issues such as long working hours also naturally come to mind.
The work “The next point is quite complex,” which was released last year, is also a work that combines the artist’s personal emotions with contemporary issues. This media installation work on artificial intelligence is one of the works that the artist personally cherishes. The background of its creation is due to the frustration that the artist felt after moving to Seoul more than ten times.
“I moved around too many times, and I really wanted to settle down by buying an apartment. But the reality is not that easy. So I thought, why not use the technologies that I am best at to build a few apartments of my own?”
“I want to be remembered as an artist who constantly throws out topics for discussion.”
The exploration of fourth industrial revolution technologies, which are attracting attention in this era, by artist Jo is still ongoing. The emergence of new technologies such as blockchain and NFTs is not intimidating, but rather exciting to Cho, who strives to quickly grasp and adapt to new advancements, stating that “the operational principles of even the most evolved technologies are generally similar.”
Thanks to his inherent absorption skills, his range of activities has become even more vigorous. In particular, artificial intelligence has many applications in both art and non-art fields. Cho currently teaches artificial intelligence-related courses at a university.
However, Cho’s primary identity remains that of an artist. He is a prolific creator, having participated in over 50 group exhibitions and three solo exhibitions. Last year, he participated in the “ART IN METAVERSE” exhibition hosted by ARTSCLOUD. The work he presented was a media art piece titled “In the Mirror of the Strange,” which was created using an artificial intelligence-generated video. The artwork was inspired by the question of whether artificial intelligence can understand literary works, a process that explores the system between the purpose of ICT and the expression of art and reminds us of the meaning and value of art.
Regarding his experience at the “Art in Metaverse” exhibition, Young-gak Cho recalls being fascinated by the scale and scope that is not easily found in the media art field, saying that he was “inspired by the fact that it provided a platform to witness the current state of media art in other countries.
/Photo: Artist Cho Young-gak
Source: The First Media (http://www.thefirstmedia.net)
