Screenign of Halmang by Jane Jin Kaisen

Saturday, May 11, 2024 | 3 – 5 PM | The Output, Video Pool Media Arts Centre

Plug In ICA is excited to announce a film screening and panel discussion of Halmang by artist Jane Jin Kaisen. Join us May 11, 2024 at 3pm at the Output to view the film and participate in discussion with curator Irene Campolmi, artist Jane Jin Kaisen, and Noa Bronstein moderated by Allison Yearwood.

Event Details:

Event: Film screening and discussion of Halmang, 2023 by artist Jane Jin Kaisen. Single channel film. 4K. Color / Stereo sound. Duration: 12 min.

Date: Saturday, May 11th, 2024

Time: 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Location: The Output, Video Pool Media Arts Centre, #300 – 100 Arthur St.

Halmang revolves around a group of eight women in their 70s and 80s. It is filmed by the coast of Jeju Island near a lava rock islet that used to serve as a shamanic shrine for the wind goddess Yongdeung Halmang. The women, who have worked and made a living together for most their lives as haenyeo sea divers, used to depart together for the sea from this very location. The title Halmang refers to this spiritual aspect as shamanic goddesses in Jeju are referred to as ‘halmang’ while also being the Jeju term for ‘grandmother’ and a respectful form of address for a woman. It was also from this area that Kaisen’s grandmother during her lifetime used to depart for the sea as a haenyeo sea diver.

The film portrays the ageing women’s lived experience, their community and spirituality connected to the sea, the wind and the island. Central to the work is its focus on the collective use and care for sochang; a white, long cotton cloth associated with female labor and a symbol of cycle of life and death and humans’ connection to the spirit world. The camera carefully registers their hands, gestures, and facial expressions as they meticulously tend to the fabric. As the piece unfolds, they start connecting the long rolls of sochang until it comes to form a large spiral enveloping the black lava rocks.

Jane Jin Kaisen

Born in 1980 in Jeju, Republic of Korea, Jane Jin Kaisen moved to Denmark as a child; she is still based there, dividing her time between Copenhagen and Berlin. Nourished by a long and detailed research phase, ranging from the exploration of archives and literary texts to her own collection of images and sounds, Kaisen looks at rites as the wellspring from which collective and individual memory draw their source. In her work, she explores how the individual memory of lost stories intersects with the larger history of Korea, marked by war, migration, and battles on the border. Kaisen engages with female Korean shamanism as an ethics and aesthetics of memory and as mutual recognition across time and space.

Irene Campolmi

Currently Senior Curator for International Projects at KØS Museum of Art in Public Spaces, Irene Campolmi has worked as a curator and researcher at international and Danish art institutions for the past 14 years, including theEstonia Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, TANK Museum, Musée d’art de Joliette, The Power Plant, Muséed’art contemporain de Baie-Saint-Paul, MAAT, Walk&Talk,and Kunsthal Charlottenborg. In 2021, she won the Bikuben Foundation’s Vision Award with Copenhagen Contemporary for ‘Yet, it Moves!’ Campolmi holds an MA in Art History and Museology from the University of Florence and was a research fellow at the Max Planck Institute.

Noa Bronstein is a curator and writer based in Toronto. She is currently the Assistant Director of the Art Museum at the University of Toronto.

Acknowledgments

We are on Treaty 1 Territory. Plug In ICA is located on the territories of the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and the National homeland of the Red River Métis. Our water is sourced from Shoal Lake 40 First Nation.

Plug In ICA extends our heartfelt gratitude to our generous donors, valued members, and dedicated volunteers. We acknowledge the sustaining support of our Director’s Circle. You all make a difference.

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council, the Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council. We could not operate without their continued financial investment and lobbying efforts.

Plug In ICA relies on community support to remain free and accessible to all, and enable us to continue to present excellent programs. Please consider becoming a member of Plug In ICA and a donor at https://plugin.org/support or by contacting Caitlin at caitlin@plugin.org.

For more information on public programming and exhibitions contact Luther Konadu luther@plugin.org.

For general information, please contact: info@plugin.org or call 1.204.942.1043