Screen Walk with Yehwan Song

Yehwan Song will premiere a poem-based web performance about private and public space in contemporary internet culture. Inspired by Inhun Choi's novel The Square, the artist will employ the metaphor of ‘the square without a private chamber’ to address how people are losing their private spaces, connections, handmade homepages and intimate webrings, only to be filled with social media, giant search engines and AI-based chat services over which they have no control or overview. Virtual voices emerging from the artist's performance will create a harmony that sings of their longing for a private space. The performance will act as a song for an ideal internet where private chambers and the square balance and complete each other.

In Screen Walks, a series of live-streamed explorations of digital spaces, selected artists and researchers investigate artistic strategies taking place online. The project gives an insight into practices using the screen as a medium. From re-contextualising pictures found on online marketplaces and uncovering data brokers’ invisible circulation of images to analysing in-game photography and the social, political and economic implications of games – Screen Walks examines various approaches, offers a behind-the-scenes look at artists’ work and uncovers new, current and forgotten digital spaces. Screen Walks is a collaboration between The Photographers’ Gallery in London and Fotomuseum Winterthur.

The event is free and takes place on Zoom. Details on how to access the talk will be confirmed upon registration. REGISTER HERE.

Biography:
Song is a Korean-born, New York-based web artist challenging conventional digital spaces through non-user-centric, unconventional internet projects. Focused on the often overlooked discomfort of marginalised users, Song critiques the homogeneity of the web, advocating for diversity and inclusivity. By blending digital and physical mediums – ranging from unique web interfaces to physical installations – Song's work fosters new user device interactions and dialogues on the socio-political influences shaping today's templated internet landscape, emphasising the importance of equitable online rights for users with diverse backgrounds.

Screen Walks has launched a subscription model called Folders. Via a personal folder, subscribers receive access to exclusive content such as digital artworks by the artists participating in Screen Walks. Subscribe to Folders!