13. Gwangju Biennale: Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning

Brought together for the first time in Gwangju, the installation of Vaginal Davis presents formerly unknown works from Davis's archive and pays tribute to her three initiatives in Koreatown of Los Angeles: the infamous apartment gallery 'HAG–small, contemporary haggard' (1982–89), the management of the no-budget film studio and the production house 'The Cheese Endique Trifecta' (1990–2005), and the organisation of delirious parties at 'Club Sucker' (1994–99). The spatial reconstruction, photographs, zines, and audiovisual pieces are mementos from a lifestyle that continuously refuses to adhere to the norm and uses parody as a form of social critique.

Theo Eshetu's latest audiovisual journey 'Ghostdance' (2020) looks at the relations between the ethnographical display of Asian and African collections and the choreographing of their metaphorical death and life as they enter the museum space. What does it mean for objects to possess subjectivity in representing spheres of life and social bonds? This question circulates through the bodies of two exceptional dancers, who channel the kinetic energy as a repository of spirit-objects and rituality suspended behind the museum's walls.

For the new video game 'Happy People' (2020), Ana María Millán collaborated with a group of local LARPers, gamers, art students, and cosplayers in a character-building workshop in Gwangju. A special exploration of Korean animation history and reflections on gendered dimensions of online gaming and political unrest emerged from her collaboration with FAMERZ, a collective of feminist gamers active in South Korea. Alluding to the politics of coalition building and representation, the collective and participatory process of live-action role-play that involves mirroring and reinventing existing realities served as the starting point for 'Happy People'.