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works

Generalkunst has created a variety of projects, including audience-participatory performances without professional actors in various non-theatre venues, considering the format appropriate to the subject matter of the work. 

Here, we will introduce some of our best works divided by keywords.  The full list of works can be found at the very bottom. Click on the captions of the photos to see some part of each project.

a series of projects that borrowed the language of protest to address the invisibility of women's labour

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Concept and intention

 

〈Picketline〉 is a program initiated by Generalkunst, inspired by the puppet protests that took place in Barnaul, Russia, in 2012. It started in 2018 as a proxy protest using tiny dolls for women, patients, and disabilities who couldn't participate in on-site demonstrations. We focus on protests as a unique feature of the streets.

 

The project has taken various forms, including installation pieces, site-specific performances, and online exhibitions. It observes and interpretes some aspects often overlooked in protest — the sighs, songs, tears, expressions, and emotions of women.

 

In the initial project, the rallying cry was a historic slogan, "We want bread but roses too," carried by immigrants, women, and children a century ago during labor movements. Remarkably, its relevance endures, resonating with contemporary issues.

 

After the COVID-19 pandemic, the project underwent a thematic shift, adopting the slogan "We are everywhere but here." It particularly focuses on those who experienced difficulties even before the pandemic. This includes women engaged in the tireless care of their families or employed in roles such as cleaning and caregiving. By highlighting the struggles of these women, the project aims to draw attention to the often invisible labor of women that contributes significantly to our communities.

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Plans

The Picketline project is a kind of community art. When we first embark, a local employment agency is used to find people to care for patients or clean the house. You might be introduced to an elderly woman with graying hair. We also visit sewing factories or local community centers where there are many elderly women. After a brief workshop, conversation, or interview, we get to work. We eat snacks, chat, and make tiny, thumb-sized rag dolls together. The finished protest puppets are then decorated with the slogan "We are not here, but we are everywhere", fixings, and additional stitching before being placed around the final exhibition site. The slogan refers to the situation of women who, despite their fundamental role in the functioning of society and community, have been reduced to unpaid and invisible labor. The protest dolls are the spirits and alter egos of the elderly women. They reach far beyond the women's reach and convey their wishes, claims, and voices. Around the dolls are pickets in the form of QR codes, which the audience can connect to and view specific stories in the form of videos, drawings, plays, and audio. The work can be communicated in a simple and meaningful way, not only to a prepared audience, but also to the people on the street who happen to stumble upon the protest puppets.

In the site-specific performance, the audience is initially invited to participate in a fictional secret society known as the "Asia Housekeeping and Care Work Association". Following a workshop, local elderly women join the performance as both performers and staff simultaneously. Every 30 minutes, one audience member is welcomed to join. Participants are instructed to don headphones and immerse themselves in the secret society's meetings. Silently, the elderly woman guides the audience, communicating through handwritten instructions. Audience members follow the sounds in their headphones, the street scene, and the elderly woman's movements to reach the clandestine meeting place of the association. This location is typically a hidden, abandoned site in the neighborhood, such as an old inn or warehouse. The concept revolves around women, lacking their own spaces, sharing a room in an old inn or warehouse for staggered periods, allowing them time for themselves. To outsiders, this space is known as a "temporary association office". The audience is instructed to do nothing. By the end of the performance, the audience will understand the meaning of women's labor and that protest can never be limited to the field. When women stop, the world stops. 

An online project carried out during the pandemic utilizes Google Docs to document and leave traces of conversations and play with women. Google Sheets, Google Docs, and Google Business, which are based on efficiency and practicality, are being used in ways that are contrary to their original intentions in 〈Picketline〉. In particular, she captures and shares the humor, aspirations, worries, and love of older women who come and go within the closed dialog of KakaoTalk. They use Google Sheets to create pixel art, Google Business to occupy virtual spaces in Google Maps, and Google Docs to write fiction and fake documentaries based on their stories.

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유령으로부터, 동시대예술특별전 <마당: 마중합니다 당신을> 참여, 수원시립미술관, 2023

새로운 유령(A New Ghost), 국립현대미술관 청주관, 2023 

​대극장 짓기(Theatering), 인천아트플랫폼, 신촌극장, 2022

An Eschatology of Theater 극장종말론, 서울, 서울문화재단, 2021

​​영등등등등등등등등포, 영등포청년예술단, 서울 영등포, 영등포아트홀, 영등포문화재단, 2019

Questions 질문들 (퍼포먼스), 서울 신촌, 신촌문화발전소, 변방연극제, 2019

Someone I know 내가 아는 누군가 (퍼포먼스), 서울 혜화, 아르코 미술관 제 2 전시실, 2017

​Avec moi - a foreign stranger (나와 함께 - 낯선 이방인), 서울 선유도, 선유도거리예술마켓, 2016

​Avec moi - a foreign stranger (나와 함께 - 낯선 이방인), 경기도 안산, 안산국제거리극축제 공식초청작, 2016

​​​Avec moi - a foreign stranger (나와 함께 - 낯선 이방인), 프랑스 마르세유, 서울문화재단-페아, 2015​

House of We trees, 안산국제거리극축제, 2023

Picketline for my dear ladies 피켓라인, 은희에게 은희는 (퍼포먼스), 광명시, 페스티벌 광명 공식초청작, 2022

Picketline Seoul 피켓라인 서울 (온라인 퍼포먼스), 서울-구글맵, 구글스프레드시트, 예술경영지원센터 서울아트마켓 팸스초이스 쇼케이스, 2021

Picketline temporary palcae 피켓라인 임시궁궐 (설치), 수원 화성행궁 일대, 수원문화재단, 2021

Picketline 피켓라인 (설치 퍼포먼스), 서울-택배상자, 도착지, 구글스프레드시트 같은 자리들, 서울문화재단, 2021

Picketline 피켓라인 (설치), 과천축제, 성북누리마실, 2020

​Picketline for my dear ladies 피켓라인, 은희에게 은희는 (퍼포먼스), 서울 영등포, 문래창작촌 일대, 서울문화재단 거리예술창작센터, 2020

​Picketline - but roses, too 피켓라인 - 먹고 사는 일이 중요하지만 (설치), 서울 영등포, 문래창작촌 일대, 서울문화재단 문래예술공장, 2019

Picketline 피켓라인 (설치), 서울 문래창작촌 일대, 서울문화재단 문래예술공장, 2018

Wendy, 온라인, 한국문화예술위원회 온라인미디어예술활동, 2023

Grand(ma) Summer Holiday, 온라인, 한국문화예술위원회 온라인미디어예술활동, 2022

돌멩이 줍기 클럽, 서울문화재단, 2023

Creativity Learning 창의력 학습 (퍼포먼스), 서울 노들섬, 서울거리예술축제 초청작, 2021

​parking lot commune 주차장 코뮌 (퍼포먼스), 서울 영등포, 서울하우지랩 H-Square, 서울하우징랩, 2019

96% 구십육퍼센트 (퍼포먼스), 서울, 복합문화공간행화탕, 서울거리예술창작센터, 2018

Any Object 어떤 물건들(워크숍), 충청북도 청주, 청주공예비엔날레, 2017

이-풍경-지금은 여기에 없는, 전라북도 남원 서어나무 숲, 남원문화도시사무국, 2017

​​이-풍경, 지금 여기에 있는, 전라북도 남원 구 남원역 일대, 남원사운드아티스트레지던시, 2016

Walgot Sound Scape (월곶 사운드 스케이프), 경기도 시흥, 월곶예술공판장, 2016

​You Are Here (현 위치), 인천, 인천아트플랫폼 일대, 2016

Hallo Meine Nachbarschaft (안녕 동네 사람), 서울 문래 문래근린공원 및 문래창작촌 일대, 서울문화재단, 2016

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