Our daily lives are rushed and frantic as if being chased by something, regardless of whether we are to encounter a big event. In a rapidly changing world where individuals must run ahead in order not to be cast away by the speed of daily life, art may become a haven where one can lie down and breathe for a while. While flipping through the pages of a book unintentionally, watching a movie we reserved without much expectation, or viewing works in an exhibition hall we stopped by accidentally while passing, at the end of a long day, we suddenly encounter a world created within the work. Sometimes such a world causes small changes in our routine and everyday life. Our journey, which has a predicted path of trajectory, may be distorted subtly by these small changes, resulting in an altered future trajectory. The exhibition Cryptesthesia focuses on the impact and possibilities of this artistically imaginative world, on the reality that we live in on our feet, and how it works.

Regardless of the genre or medium, such as literature, music or fine art, artists create small and large stories and worlds from their imagination. These countless worlds are born after the fierce anguish of the creator. It is not easy to trace the origin of these created worlds and explain where and how they began. We can only speculate on the birth or origin of the universe to which we belong and cannot provide clear scientific or religious verification. There is also a limit to logically explaining the starting point of the world shaped by the imagination. The title of the show Cryptesthesia is a psychological term that refers to human perception that cannot be scientifically explained. As the title implies the exhibition emphasizes that artists are creating a new world through irrationality, intuition and imagination based upon their Cryptesthesia, a shift from the rationalistic value system.

We continue our efforts to make the world a bit better in our respective places. Sometimes, however, reality comes with a series of experiences of deep despair and helplessness. This is because the things we can do “now” are extremely limited due to the accumulation of history. Works that show a return to the past using present memories or interest in a post-apocalyptic genre examining the end of the world, are most likely the result of a vague desire for a brand-new start, one free of entwined problems. Artists, or we who possess artistic imagination, have the potential to dream of our own world without any restraints and limitations.

Artists draw a virtual world, one that resembles reality but does not perfectly conform to it. The separation caused by an inconsistency between the virtual world and reality makes it possible for viewers to perceive subtle differences, overlapping the two worlds as if they were playing, 'spot the difference!’, results in an emotional space where one can structure ideas. The world built on imagination is filled with past and/or future events. The participating artists incorporate the latest trends in their works by predicting the future and exploring aspects of sense and perception, ones that have changed with the development of technology. They also talk to and face the past through “re-writing”, (sometimes polluting the past) again affecting today's reality and tomorrow. Their works capture the appearance of the past, the future, and reality in a subtly dislocating way, presenting it visually. This activity reminds us of prophets who presume to know the impending future, as the artists deal with the unrecorded past and the yet-to-come.

The worlds we will see here offer a new perspective on reality and the dominant historical stance, one that has been taken for granted as absolute truth. Cryptesthesia includes works by VISUALSFROM., Jang Jaerok, Choi haneyl, TZUSOO and Tae Kim. They explore the boundaries of elements that are not dichotomous, calling on ambiguous states and beings that are hardly defined. Their effort does not stop at revealing the problems of reality with an attitude of helplessness, but it goes further to suggesting the possibility of change by overlaying the world and completely rewriting it. Listening to the voices of the prophets, brings us one step closer to the realm of infinite possibilities, where numerous voices sing, rather than one single memorized history. The journey of their stories, which began at their fingertips, leads to our hearts, and extends beyond their work into reality.

/ Gyusik Lee (Independent Curator)