Edited excerpts of
Toothpaste Action #3, Artspace presents ‘Youth of the Beast’, Snakepit, Auckland, 2012. Performance by Samin Son.
Hammer Piece, ‘CHAAT-DA by CHAAT-GI’ exhibition (Samin Son and Max Edmond), Snake Pit, Auckland, 2012. Performance by Samin Son and bldbcu.
Son and Hofko, Audio Foundation, Auckland, 2012. Performance by Samin Son, Alexa Wilson, Karin and Markus Hofko.
Samin Son is a Korean born artist based in Wellington. His practice is multifaceted, binding painting, sculpture and installation through performative strategies of dance, music and presence. Son’s endurance and meticulously directed aggression reference his experience of compulsory military service in the Korean military as well as his personal struggles with identity and race politics in his second home. There is a saying in Korean “If you can’t avoid it, you might as well ride it”. Son had to channel his non-conformist personality through the conventions by overenthusiasm for the mundane – pushing the limits of conformity to their threshold. During the military service he trained for the riot police, he had faeces thrown at him and he entered real life riot situations. To toughen him up for the experience, his senior officers would beat him. Throughout his military service, he had to clean the bathroom floor everyday using toothpaste. Upon returning to Aotearoa, Son recommenced study, and he is now in his final year studying towards a BFA at Massey University School of Fine Arts. Son has performed his artworks at Enjoy Public Art Gallery, Russian Frost Farmers, The Engine Room, None Gallery (Dunedin), Audio Foundation (Auckland) and Snake Pit (Auckland). His work has been published on curator Mark Williams’ Circuit website, and is scheduled to be toured in conjunction with the internationally acclaimed zine White Fungus – presenting shows in Waikato Museum (Hamilton), Whammy Bar (Auckland), The Physics Room (Christchurch), Russian Frost Farmers (Wellington) and City Art Gallery (Wellington).
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Museum of Modern Activity (MoMA) is not to be confused with Museum of Modern Art in New York (nor any other ‘MoMA’ for that matter). Museum of Modern Activity is an entirely different gallery – based in Wellington, New Zealand, and affiliated with RadioActive.fm. Maybe one day we’ll be affiliated with other MoMAs around the world, but not today.
