A Man of Average Means

Opening Reception: August 2nd 4-7pm with a performance by Dawn Kasper at 5:30PM

Closing Party & Performance: Viola Yesiltac + Kathleen Kim 7:30PM

In 1978, frustrated by his country’s inability to produce quality films, North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Il embarked on a plan to appropriate proven foreign resources. With this intent he carried out the well-documented abduction of South Korean filmmaker Shin Sang Ok and his ex-wife, the actress Choi Eun Hee, independently of each other during visits to Hong Kong.

Approximately two years after the abductions, Kim held a celebratory banquet in which the two captives were presented as guests of honor. Only then, upon seeing each other, did they become aware of their parallel circumstances. This reunion, coupled with a rather heartfelt admission by Kim himself, revealed the true significance of his fantastic and aggressive gesture – the desire to find a poetic moment from within the perfectly constructed ideology he embodied.

Shin and Choi produced thirteen films in the following six years of their strange circumstance (during which they were remarried), until they escaped while attending a Viennese film festival. They would eventually migrate to Los Angeles, where Shin worked under the pseudonym, Simon Sheen.

A Man of Average Means is an exhibition featuring works by:

Peggy Ahwesh, Keren Benbenisty, Jakob Brugge, Fiona Connor, Dawn Kasper, Dawn Kinstel, Lucas Knipscher, Charles Mayton, Viola Yesiltac, Yoni Zonszein

Organized by Eric Kim and Thomas Torres Cordova

Gallery Hours: Wed-Sun, noon-6PM