New Animation Art
Golden Nica
“As usual, the Han River is soaked in antidepressants, antihistamines, antibiotics and anesthetics!!! It’s 7 pm, evening peak time is back! Ride along before it’s too late!”
“Dancemaster always likes to keep the action to a minimum. For Dancemaster, optimization is synonymous with elegance. No matter what path an object travels, nature always strives to minimize action… You know that, don’t you? But this is no longer about nature…”
Ernst Mo (an anagram of ‘Monster’) is a female delivery rider who works for a platform called Delivery Dancer in the fictitious Seoul. In this fiction, Seoul is a labyrinth of endlessly regenerating routes, and the Dancers (workers of Delivery Dancer) pursue never-ending delivery work under the control of a master algorithm called Dancemaster. This work is not only about the gig economy and platform labor, which have become immensely popular in South Korea, especially during the pandemic, but also about the topological labyrinth, the possible world(s), the hypervigilance, and the accelerationist urge for optimization of body, time, and space. It contains hints of a queer relationship with a counterpart from another possible world.
Jury Statement
Delivery Dancer’s Sphere was conceived and completed by artist Ayoung Kim during the chaotic era of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a speculative fiction set in the delirious world that emerges between the everyday normal reality pre-pandemic and the new digitally intermediated pandemic reality(…). The jury found that Ayoung Kim’s combination of philosophy, topology, and classical physics with excellent visual storytelling creates a highly successful portrayal of the emerging multi-layered and uncontrollable world we inhabit. The beginning of the 21st century is bringing a new form of platform capitalism that acts as both friend and enemy, allowing for the emergence of a new precarious working class, with female workers continuing to be pushed to the lower classes even in
this new gig economy. Meanwhile merciless AI algorithms search countless possibilities to optimize the routes of our lives, encouraging a pattern of unstoppable competition that often ends in harm. Within this world of unrealistic efficiency and usefulness, our other selves and new desires can be found.
Excerpt from the jury statement
Delivery Dancer’s Sphere / Ayoung Kim (KR), Photo: Ayoung Kim
Delivery Dancer’s Sphere / Ayoung Kim (KR), Photo: Ayoung Kim
Delivery Dancer’s Sphere / Ayoung Kim (KR), Photo: Ayoung Kim
Credits
Written and directed by Ayoung Kim
Produced by Heejung Oh
Assistant director: Chae Yu
Project managers: Junyoung Lee, Yoojin Jang
Delivery riding advisor: Yiseul An
Physics advisor: Mankeun Jeong
Mathematics advisor: Seoyeon Kim
Actors: Seokyung Jang, Soojeong Hwang
Director of photography: Syeyoung Park
Music, sound mixing and mastering: Đ.K. (aka Dang Khoa Chau)
Editing: Hyunji Lee, Ayoung Kim, Chae Yu
VFX and motion graphics: Hyunji Lee
Unity level design: B. Paul Sandoval Lopez, Sanghun Heo
Unity animation: Sanghun Heo
Maya Modeling and Animation: Jaehwan Hwang
Lidar Scanning: Jieun Kim
Ayoung Kim (KR)
Ayoung Kim synthesizes the outcomes of far-reaching speculation, establishing connections between biopolitics and border controls, the memories of stones and virtual memories, and ancestral origins and imminent futures. These narratives take the forms of video, virtual reality (VR), game simulation, sonic fiction, diagrams, and texts that the artist presents as exhibitions, screenings, performances, theatrical projects, and publications. Kim decisively integrates geopolitics, mythology, technology, and futuristic iconography in her work, and she retroactively seeks speculative time to infiltrate the present.
Kim has held solo shows and events at various venues, including Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, Korea (2022); Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan (2022); Ilmin Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea (2018) and Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2016). Her group shows, screenings, and performances include Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah, UAE (2023); International Film Festival Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands (2023); Beijing Biennial, Beijing, China (2022); STRP Festival, Eindhoven, Netherlands (2022); Asian Art Biennial, Taichung, Taiwan (2021); IMPAKT Festival, Utrecht, Netherlands (2020); Berlin International Film Festival, Berlin, Germany (2020); Korea Artist Prize, MMCA Seoul, Korea (2019), and Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (2015). Ayoung Kim has been an artist in residence at Pavillon Neuflize OBC Research Lab, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2015-2016) and Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (2011). Kim has received the Young Artist of the Year Award presented by the Ministry of Culture, Korea (2015), and the British Institution Award presented by the Royal Academy of Arts, UK (2010).