[100 Challenge] Song E Yoon_02

Archive

I value the record highly, whether it contains the correct text. Sometimes, unfinished sketches or doddles are more meaningful than masterpieces because they can be the only clue that proves their value to the finished work. Time, memories, and feelings of you are all extinguished. All of this will be accumulated and contained in the artist's work, but the minor records left by the artist of that time make them feel vague. 

I visited the Alvin Ailey Exhibition at the Whitney Museum today. It was the most fantastic show I have seen recently. The leading artist, Alvin Ailey, worked in incredible harmony with more than eighty other artists. Alvin Ailey is an American dancer born in 1931 and died in 1989. In this exhibition, Ailey’s presence is felt through the video surround, and his encased personal effects envelop a scenic installation of artworks by over eighty artists. These works are arranged by themes that shaped Ailey’s life and dances.

What is very special and rare about this exhibition is that I could take a closer look at the artist's thoughts, records, artist notes, and letters in almost all works, rather than the composition and scale of the exhibition. I never remember seeing an exhibition where I could see such a detailed and vast amount of records.

Every minor act of an artist has the potential to become a work. It can be part of the work if it is archived who I met, drank coffee with, and where I walked on the street today.

Record my minor archive today, which may become a small puzzle piece of my masterpiece in the future.