Mina Cheon

Mina Cheon . art . text . teach . review . cv

COMBAT: SPORTS + MILITARY 2010

This project was first a co-taught international exchange program by Mina Cheon and Gabriel Kroiz at Ehwa Woman's University, Seoul, South Korea. Invited students for creating public projects all around Seoul were from MICA, MSU, and Ewha. This is the front cover of the book that was published at the end of the project, co-authored by Cheon and Kroiz. © Cheon Kroiz 2010.
	COMBAT: SPORTS & MILITARY 2010 About the Book (Culture Bank Press, Seoul, S. Korea 2010) Co-Authors: Mina Cheon and Gabriel Kroiz The book highlights a series of public projects that were installed and performed around Seoul, S. Korea in July 2010 and created with the theme of “combat.” Artist Mina Cheon, Professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), and architect Gabriel Kroiz, Program Director and Professor at Morgan State University (MSU), School of Architecture and Planning worked with students from MICA and MSU of America and collaborated with students of Ewha Woman’s University’s arts and design. The culmination of the collaboration and cultural exchange included projects that responded to S. Korea’s relationship to the world culturally, politically, and economically. Through the collaboration, participating students developed group projects as well as pushing through their own individual creative works, all of them, paying particular attention to producing work that had public relevance, and creating art as public intervention. With the diverse group of students, the public projects created were those that intersected between their fields of knowledge, between fine arts, design, and architecture, and resulted in various expressions of public installations, temporary installations, performances, events, new media work, social sculpture, and social interactions. The projects were born from pure laboratory style of arts education in that the collaborative efforts and intercultural dynamics determined the outcome of the projects for the public. Both faculty and students were active participants in the melting pot of intercultural exchange. The works that came out were spirited by the synergy of the exchange, yet reflective of the global time that we live in, and directly tied to the space of Seoul, S. Korea. Culture Bank and the Art in Embassy program supported some of the works that came out of the projects and made lasting connections for those who were participant to its events.
	“#1 Winner” by Mina Cheon Combating to be #1 Wearable, scent, and performance art Object edition 30, artist proof 5, signature on back Given with certificate of authentication as awards. Made w/ Combat Power ant killer scent boxes and recycled ribbons. This performance and art object piece was shared with the students, faculty, and artists of the COMBAT project. During the final crit, Cheon gave out handmade ribbons to everyone and certified each person as a “#1 Winner” of a category as a way to award every participant of the “Combat” project. The performance created a democratic space of sharing between the teachers and students with Cheon performing in front of the students and contributing to the class as a participant. © Cheon Kroiz 2010. ART TALK: The Konglish Critique Cheon’s other project “ART TALK: Democratize Art” was a blog that dealt with concerns of teaching the course with the diverse group of students from Ewha, MICA, and MSU. Her writing is entitled “The Konglish Critique: Combating Language and Culture Barriers” for MICA Faculty’s Cultural Expansion Committee’s book on critique. http://artalk.blog.com/ © Cheon Kroiz 2010.
	Group NORTH: THE SECRET RECIPE OF KFC Combating Global Corporate Expansion Public protest in front of KFC in Seoul as performance Includes a film with animation and video. Collaborators: EunYoung Lily Ko, Nyasha Felder, YeIn Son, EunJi Lee, YeaWon Choi, YoonSu Lee. The project is about searching for the secret recipe of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and to protest against the corporate funding of Israeli military. The secret recipe is not about food but rather about how global franchise gets its way with corporate ‘crimes’ such as selling unhealthy food, perpetuating animal cruelty and child labor, displacing people and native homes, and funding wars and military. Large corporations such as KFC, Starbucks, Samsung Co. all have their own secret recipes in getting away with corporate crime. The group created a film showing how eating fried chicken at KFC in Korea has global military repercussions. The video was screened in front of a KFC restaurant in Seoul and one of the performers wore a chicken head mask as a sign of protest. © Cheon Kroiz 2010.
	Group WEST Project: RIP-CONSTRUCTION Combating Government Rehabilitation Project Public performance of shamanism gut at Chunggaechun Stream. With collaborators: Clementine InHye Jang, Christiana Duncan Augustt, Ram Lee, So Hyeong Lee, YeaWon Choi, JiHyeon Kim. The rehabilitation of the Chunggaechun Stream helped the former Mayor of Seoul Lee MyungBak become elected President of S. Korea while creating a ripple effect of merchants losing their shops, controversy over the use of massive construction budget, and concerns for a non-environmental friendly rehabilitation. There is a Korean custom for shamans to perform a gut (ritual) for new homes, businesses, and developments. The performance was an adapted traditional shamanism rite, performed to bless the stream with good fortune and healing. The gut occurred by walking across one side of the stream to another and by ripping a long piece of fabric that was held from both ends. Ripping the fabric was a symbolic gesture of entering liminal space in order to bless the stream and the Korean people. The performance was held at the stream and on the bridge above the stream with fabrics in five colors of Ohaeng known as Obangsaek. © Cheon Kroiz 2010.
	Group WEST Project: RIP-CONSTRUCTION (continued) The rehabilitation of the Chunggaechun Stream helped the former Mayor of Seoul Lee MyungBak become elected President of S. Korea while creating a ripple effect of merchants losing their shops, controversy over the use of massive construction budget, and concerns for a non-environmental friendly rehabilitation. There is a Korean custom for shamans to perform a gut (ritual) for new homes, businesses, and developments. The performance was an adapted traditional shamanism rite, performed to bless the stream with good fortune and healing. The gut occurred by walking across one side of the stream to another and by ripping a long piece of fabric that was held from both ends. Ripping the fabric was a symbolic gesture of entering liminal space in order to bless the stream and the Korean people. The performance was held at the stream and on the bridge above the stream with fabrics in five colors of Ohaeng known as Obangsaek. © Cheon Kroiz 2010.
	EAST/CENTER Group: PACE OF SEOUL Combating Rapid Seoul Temporary public installation and social interaction. Accompanied by a blog. Collaborators: Garrett Lee, Meen Choi, SooHyung Chung, WonSun Choi, SunMyung Choi, JaeEun Kim, Melissa Crisco, HaYeong Yi. The photo booth is a kitsch painting of an elderly Korean couple relaxing in a Korean style pavilion. Their faces are punched out for passersby to insert their own faces. The booth created lively and humorous social interactions in the streets as people stopped to take pictures of each other inside the booth. © Cheon Kroiz 2010.
	EAST/CENTER Group: PACE OF SEOUL (continued) Mostly found in tourist places or amusement parks, a photo prop set in the middle of the city created a resting place in the backdrop of a bustling Metropolitan city. The piece was laid out at Ewha Woman’s University campus, outside the campus near shops, near the City Hall, and in front of palace entrances. Commenting on the fast pace of Seoul and people rushing, the piece also critiques the rapid development and the ongoing changes of the cityscape. Interactors were given the blog information where they can download pictures of themselves. © Cheon Kroiz 2010.
	SOUTH Group: HAPPEN-STANCE Combating Art for the Sake of Life On-going street performances in urban space. Documentation by map and catalog of photographs. Collaborators: Andrew Pisacane, Colin Van Winkle, DaEun Lee, EeJin Choi, Su Young Han, SinYoung Park. While wandering around the city and looking intimately at the sites of industrial market areas, the group of students both found and created “happen-stance” compositions of stacked objects in the streets in ways that seemed ubiquitously untouched. Each urban space was transformed by this subtle activity of the artist and street sculptures were created everywhere. The collaboration challenged the gap between art and life and helped redefine the possibilities of art itself. Every street event was marked by being artistically photographed and the images were assembled into a catalog to historicize and validate the artistic process. A map piece that showed the areas of investigation was included with this body of work.
	SOUTH Group: HAPPEN-STANCE (continued) The collaboration challenged the gap between art and life and helped redefine the possibilities of art itself. Every street event was marked by being artistically photographed and the images were assembled into a catalog to historicize and validate the artistic process. This map piece that showed the areas of investigation was included with this body of work.

COMBAT: SPORTS & MILITARY 2010
About the Book (Culture Bank Press, Seoul, S. Korea 2010)

Co-Authors: Mina Cheon and Gabriel Kroiz

The book highlights a series of public projects that were installed and performed around Seoul, S. Korea in July 2010 and created with the theme of “combat.” Artist Mina Cheon, Professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), and architect Gabriel Kroiz, Program Director and Professor at Morgan State University (MSU), School of Architecture and Planning worked with students from MICA and MSU of America and collaborated with students of Ewha Woman’s University’s arts and design. The culmination of the collaboration and cultural exchange included projects that responded to S. Korea’s relationship to the world culturally, politically, and economically.

Through the collaboration, participating students developed group projects as well as pushing through their own individual creative works, all of them, paying particular attention to producing work that had public relevance, and creating art as public intervention. With the diverse group of students, the public projects created were those that intersected between their fields of knowledge, between fine arts, design, and architecture, and resulted in various expressions of public installations, temporary installations, performances, events, new media work, social sculpture, and social interactions. The projects were born from pure laboratory style of arts education in that the collaborative efforts and intercultural dynamics determined the outcome of the projects for the public. Both faculty and students were active participants in the melting pot of intercultural exchange. The works that came out were spirited by the synergy of the exchange, yet reflective of the global time that we live in, and directly tied to the space of Seoul, S. Korea.

Culture Bank and the Art in Embassy program supported some of the works that came out of the projects and made lasting connections for those who were participant to its events.

COMBAT SPORTS & MILITARY

About Ewha International Public Project for Artists and Designers
By Mina Cheon & Gabriel Kroiz

The Ewha International Public Project for Artists and Designers is an international sum- mer course offered by the Ewha Woman’s University, Seoul, S. Korea and co-taught by artist Mina Cheon and architect Gabriel Kroiz. Having founded and co-directed the MICA Korea program from 2004-8, the collaborative artist and architect team Cheon Kroiz have created a new opportunity for international programming at Ewha, that was held from June 22 to July 20, 2010. The unique course offering is a 6-credit studio that links a 3-credit fine arts course “Arts & Culture” and a 3-credit design course “Design & Culture” as one larger international class, offered by the departments of Fine Arts, Design, and the Global Affairs Office of Ewha. The participating students included in- vited art students from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), architecture stu- dents from Morgan State University (MSU), and the students of Ewha, totaling around 30 students.

Through the run of the course, participating students developed group projects as well as pushing through their own individual creative works, all of them, paying particular attention to producing work that has public relevance, and creating art as public inter- vention. With the diverse group of students, the public projects created were those that intersected between their fields of knowledge, that is between fine arts, design, and architecture, and culminated in various expressions of public installations, temporary installations, performances, events, new media work, social sculpture, and social inter- actions. The course took on a pure laboratory style in that the collaborative efforts and intercultural dynamics determined the outcome of the projects for the public. One key factor that determined the dynamic of the group was the “Konglish” experience, which was perpetuated by the “Konglish critique,” where English and Korean speakers were active participants in the melting pot of intercultural exchange. The works that came out were spirited by the synergy of the exchange, yet reflective of the global time that we live in, and directly tied to the space of Seoul, Korea.

A unique element of the course was that both faculty and students were equal collaborators, creating a democratic space of sharing between teachers and students. The students were also given opportunities to network and make professional connections, pursuing their own international professional paths. Fieldwork was conducted as large and small groups all around Seoul, visiting sites of relevance to the content of the projects and integral to the research of groups and individuals.