First solo exhibition in Korea by Haroon Mirza

29 October 2015

Nam June Paik Art Center is pleased to present the first solo exhibition in Korea by the 2014 Nam June Paik Art Center Prize winner Haroon Mirza. The exhibition, titled ‘Circuits & Sequences’, features new and recent works by Mirza and runs from 29 October 2015 till 7 February 2016.

The Nam June Paik Art Center Prize was set up to discover and acknowledge the work of artists who venture beyond the known horizon, experimenting with materials and techniques to create innovative works which challenge the perceptions of contemporary art, as Nam June Paik did. Mirza was selected in recognition of his practice which fuses art and technology, effortlessly crossing between the divides that could otherwise exist between these two domains. Mirza's works weave sound, installation and video seamlessly, blending antiquated analogue materials, such as televisions, keyboards, amplifiers and furniture with state of the art digital technology. As the Chairperson of the 2014 jury, Nobuo Nakamura, Director of the CCA Kitakyushu, Japan explains, “Through his works, time and transient technology come to settle in one space”.

In ‘Circuits & Sequences’, Mirza brings to our attention the electronic circuits that generate electromagnetic waves and the programmes of sequences that turn circuits on and off. These circuits proliferate in countless repetitions out of sight just like rhizomes, delivering electronic sound layered with various lights to the audience while electronically resonating through the space through audio-visual convergence. Mirza's LED Circuit Compositions, to be installed at Nam June Paik Art Center, delicately connect turntable dust covers, abandoned windows and acrylic panels with LEDs, electric wires and cables. As if an emotional being, the work emits varying light depending on the sunlight received each day. The power supplied to the composition comes from the next room where a system connected to a solar panel is installed alongside a selection of Mirza's Solar Symphonies. These works orchestrate fragmented sound along with subtle LED lights flickering through the panel’s repeated grid, evoking synaesthetic senses of the audience as they walk into this space filled with light energy, sound and electromagnetic waves. Structured and fragmented sound reverberates also in another of the artist's works, Adam, Eve, Others and a UFO. Eight speakers generate sound that is fed into a round UFO at the center of the sculpture. The flashing lights emit drumming beats through each of the speakers and culminate in a multilayered audiovisual experience.

Please visit http://njpac-en.ggcf.kr/ for more information.