A NOTE FROM ANTOFAGASTA, CHILE | Jaewook Lee The endless horizon of the blue Atlantic Ocean, the rhythmic sound of waves, the steep ridges of rocky Atacama Desert mountains, open sky, and bright sunlight welcome me with a breath of warmth. Street dogs, big and small, roam freely. Families of sea lions grin near the fish market. Seagulls are flying, high above the ocean. In the Southern Hemisphere, it is summer. I am in Antofagasta, Chile. Antofagasta is a port city known for mining production, exporting copper to the other side of the Earth. The port owner is providing a large outdoor area for international artists to install their artwork for SACO 9 Festival of Contemporary Art. He seems like a successful businessman, but maybe he is bored with the trucks, containers, mining production, and ships he sees every day. Now he smiles, excited to see this extraordinary and intellectual event taking place on his property. The outdoor exhibition of art offers time to think, sense, feel and imagine. We pause and contemplate. It is an escape. Workers at the port are still hard at work. Some people asked me how I felt about seeing art in a marginalized region such as Antofagasta. The question was somewhat unexpected. While Antofagasta might not be a big city like New York, I don’t think of it as a marginalized place for contemporary art, thanks to SACO. Major contemporary art exhibitions can take place anywhere in the world, and people will pay attention as long as they provide interesting content and raise important issues. The internet has contributed a lot to this phenomenon, but the effort made by the SACO team is the primary reason, and creates a strong gravitational energy. SACO 9 presented my video at the Museum of the Region of Antofagasta. This is very meaningful for me. The museum is one of the oldest buildings in the region and exhibits the region’s history. My video was installed in the last room of the museum. That means that the latest contemporary art is in the city. As a South Korean, I wonder whether I am eligible to show my art there. At the same time, it shows how open-minded the city is and how they welcome people from other parts of the world. I am honored and humbled. I am staying with other artists from different parts of the world, such as Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Japan, Mexico, Switzerland and Spain. We share time and space. We eat together. We learn from each other. While political news pains us, we heal ourselves by being together, understanding our differences. I feel that visiting Antofagasta has been worthwhile, even though the pandemic made it difficult for us to travel. Jaewook Lee´s participation in the festival was possible thanks to the Korea Foundation Arts and Cultural Exchange Program 2020. Along with his exhibition Treaty of Rhythm, Color and Birdsongs, the artist offered the multigenerational workshop on sinestesia Visualizing Birdsongs at AIEP Professional Institute of Antofagasta.
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