all images_Hyun Ju Chung © 2008-2023

Bonbonautomat
in the exhibition 'Call for Drawings,'research project initiated by Klaas Hook
BAK basis voor actuele kunst,Utrecht 2015

'Sugar confectionery' (사탕 | satang |) comes in a variety. It goes by many names and comes in numerous forms.
In South Korea, 'sugar confectionery' (사탕 | satang |) also has another Korean word, 'candy' (캔디 | kǽndi |) that uses the Korean phonetic spelling of candy. While the use of foreign words has increased with globalization, the word 'candy' (캔디| kǽndi |) has been used in South Korea since the 50s. After the Korean War, it was common for American missionaries to come and hand out candies to children, so it's possible that the word candy (캔디 | kǽndi |) became more active in language use in that context. If the word sugar confectionery (사탕 | satang |), like the word cotton candy (솜사탕 | somsatang |), conjures up images of a child's desire to have something, or the affection with which a grandmother puts it in a child's hand, then the word candy (캔디 | kǽndi |), as it is often used in famous Korean pop songs, represents the sweet desires of the human heart, driven by temptation.
According to Homi K. Bhabha, when another culture enters a society, it brings with it a curiosity for difference and a fear of being attacked by that difference. The cultural identity of a society cannot be monolithic; it is hybrid, with heterogeneous differences from the dominant culture. The culture is in a state of changing hybridity, and the space of the culture is a space of hybridity that does not deny or ignore heterogeneity. There is the possibility of resistance to change in the dominant culture. In S. Korea, which has a colonized history from Japan and the Korean War in the Cold War period, there have been language purification movements, but the use of foreign languages through code-switching is also common due to globalization. The identity of language, a facet of culture, is also changing. Is it possible that people's perceptions of things, even of human beings, are changing because various names are being activated under the umbrella of the concept of candy?

Variation, Para Foundation,Berlin 2019 /BAK basis voor actuele kunst,Utrecht 2015

Variation
2019/2015

in the exhibition
'(B)order'
Berlin

in the exhibition
'A Call for Drawings'
research project
Utrecht

Variation
2019/2015

in the exhibition
'(B)order'
Berlin

in the exhibition
'A Call for Drawings'
Utrecht