Facing the “Children Crossing the Night”

Initially we wanted to discuss violence, particularly concealed violence, and its various mechanisms. After much discussion, we agreed to focus on the “family” as a cloaking mechanism, because in our society the family often does act as an obstinate cloaking mechanism allowing children to fall victim to various kinds of violence. 

From the beginning, of course, we thought we must talk about children. This was not only because these small, vulnerable beings with zero defenses often become primary objects of violence. Rather, it was because the concealed, generally repetitious, constant characteristics of violence against children are in fact the true nature of violence, and reflect the contradictory reality built up within society itself. This reality stems from rapid, intensive economic growth, deeply rooted patriarchy, internalized competitiveness, hatred towards others, and as Gilbert Keith Chesterton said, because the family functions as “the last wild place in a world filled with rules and tasks.” No wilderness is magnanimous toward the weak, and like other wildernesses, this one also requires the weak and victims, which are almost without exception women and children. 

From these suffering weak beings, we must discover our dishonorable selves. We really have to. The purpose of this exhibition, however, is not to theorize about the structure of domestic violence, or to take an approach of education. That is not the primary mission of art. Art must listen to the confessions of those with profound experience, those who were the insiders of events, listening, sensing and empathizing with their genuine souls. Here, testimony is considered more honorable than declaration, and confession more honorable than assertion. Empathy is the oldest and deepest intellectual means. An art museum is more than a philosophy lecture room or a research institute on social issues. Placed here are tools elevated to an awakening, different from ordinary subjects of study. They are polyhedral mirrors that allow us to encounter ourselves through them.

Sim Sang Yong

Director of Seoul National University Museum of Art

Media: Around 100 works including paintings, photographs, installations and moving image
Artists: Koh Kyungho, Kwon Soon Young, Kim Sujeong, Na KwangHo, Roh Gyunghwa, Min Jinyoung, Sung Heejin, Shin Heesoo, Wang Seonjeong, Chung Munkyung