Empty Space.
Seoul, South Korea: Datz Press, 2011. Folio. (74)pp. One of thirty copies, signed by the artist at the colophon. Seo opens the book with the Olympic motto, "Citius, Altius, Fortius," slanting boldly across three spreads, as if preparing the reader to witness the spectacle of human athletic achievement we have come to expect every fourth summer or winter. Instead, Seo imagines thirty sports arenas without their human participants; a cycling track has bicycles strewn along its length, fencing foils lie unused on their mats, the running track is bare. In Seo's words, "The depiction of empty spaces shows compositions of points, lines, planes, colors which [humans] created...It, the empty space, is essentially human." These remnants, this highly engineered and yet forgotten emptiness, points directly to the waste such monumental events as the Olympics leave in their wake. Neighborhoods are cleared, to be replaced by arenas, fields, and residential campuses, all hastily and frantically constructed by the host city's labor force, often the very same people whose homes have been bulldozed. Viewing the book a decade after its production also tempts the viewer to recall scenes of 2020 and the eeriness and dread of empty social spaces in a world in the throes of a global pandemic. Digitally printed. Bound in printed paper over boards. Trace rubbing to corners, else near fine. Item #31366
Price: $600.00