Contemporary new media art extends beyond traditional disciplines such as painting and sculpture, using moving images and digital technologies to engage with the social conditions of the present. Constantly reproduced, circulated and recontextualized, video-based artworks resist fixed meanings, generating new interpretations as technological and cultural environments evolve.
As part of its MMCA Film and Video program, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea will present Cache Memory: Rereading the MMCA New Media Collection at the MMCA Cinematheque in Seoul from June 16 through July 17.
The screening program brings together 19 works selected from the museum’s collection of more than 360 new media artworks, featuring key figures whose practices have shaped contemporary media art discourse.
The title Cache Memory borrows from the computer system that temporarily stores data for rapid retrieval. Here, the concept functions as a curatorial framework, positioning the collection not as a fixed archive but as a dynamic reservoir of memories and meanings continually activated through new interpretations.
The program examines how images are produced, distributed and consumed, while tracing the ways they contribute to the construction of history and personal identity. The screenings are organized into four thematic sections.
The first section, Image and Apparatus: When Images Point to Themselves, focuses on the conditions of image production, from recording technologies to distribution platforms. Works by Harun Farocki, Kim Beom, Jung Yeondoo and Jonathan Horowitz explore the infrastructures that shape visual culture.
The second section, Image and Testimony: When the Remains of Memory Become Form, addresses how memories of conflict and labor are translated into bodily voices and fragmented visual narratives. Featured artists include Eric Baudelaire, Akram Zaatari, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Anri Sala, Šejla Kamerić and Lim Heung-soon.
The third section, Image and Power: How Is History Narrated?, interrogates the authority of historical narratives and the mechanisms through which dominant histories are constructed. Through works by Anton Vidokle, Yang Fudong, Laurent Grasso, Ho Tzu Nyen and Wael Shawky, the section offers a critical examination of historical authority and representation.
The final section, Image and Subjectivity: How Is the Self Formed in a World of Images?, turns to the influence of algorithms and data networks on human perception. Works by Kim Ayoung, Kim Heecheon, Yim Ji-hye and Sarah Sejin Chang investigate how individual identity is negotiated within increasingly data-driven systems of power.
Bringing together the perspectives of leading Korean and international artists, Cache Memory positions moving-image art as a site where aesthetic experimentation intersects with urgent social questions. The program also offers audiences a rare opportunity to engage more deeply with works that may be overlooked within the time constraints of gallery viewing, revealing the layered complexity of contemporary media art.
Reported by News Culture M.J._mj94070777@nc.press
Copyright ⓒ 뉴스컬처 무단 전재 및 재배포 금지
