Doubles and Halves – Events with Nameless Neighbors

The video essay Doubles and Halves – Events with Nameless Neighbors, which is made of a single-channel video and separate audio track, was first shown in 2009 at the Venice Biennale. It was filmed at two geographically distinct locations: Ahyeon-dong, a neighborhood in Seoul where ordinary life is carried out in setting torn apart by stalled redevelopment, and the work’s ultimate exhibition location, the Biennale’s Giardini. Located in a remote corner of the Giardini, the Korean pavilion was at times occupied by drifters during the off-season. The video shows scenes of dusk and dawn at the vacant Giardini and Ahyeon-dong, which is shown empty but with traces of occupation. Just as the dim light of dawn and the dusky light of the evening are different yet alike, the two locations are a lonely, oddly similar pair of places.