siren eun young jung
APT8
Born 1974, Incheon, South Korea
Lives and works in Seoul, South Korea
siren eun young jung has been researching yeosong gukgeuk (all-female musical drama) since 2008 and has produced films, photographs, performances and installations exploring this historical Korean form. In APT8 she is represented by four video works, Act of Affect 2013, and Lyrics I, II and III 2013. Yeosong gukgeuk draws on classical Korean musical theatre and involves all characters, regardless of gender, being played by women. It emerged in the 1940s and reached its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, but has since been on the decline, with fewer and fewer practitioners. Siren's interest in the form takes a feminist position, seeing yeosong gukgeuk as a challenge to patriarchal structures within Korean society. Her work creates rich interconnected narratives about the actors' transformations into male characters, their relationships with each other, and the passing of knowledge from one generation to another. Through yeosong gukgeuk she shows women creating a world for themselves in which they can freely live out their aspirations.
siren eun young jung / South Korea, b.1974 / Act of Affect (still) 2013 / Single-channel HD video projection, 16:9, 19:34 minutes, colour, sound / Courtesy and © siren eun young jung