U-Ram Choe
The Trammell and Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art
- Tracee W. Robertson -
Echo Navigo (Adult), Anmorome Istiophorus platypterus Uram, 2004; etched stainless steel, aluminum, painted fiberglass, circuits, motors, CPU board, custom software, cable; 32 x 110 x 35 inches; images courtesy the artist and Bitforms Gallery, New York
U-Ram Choe, Urbanus (Male), detail, Anmopista Volaticus Floris Uram, 2006; etched stainless steel, aluminum, brushed acrylic, circuits, motors, CPU board, custom software, cable; 10 inches x 10 inches x 9 2/5 feet
Whether or not we have company in the universe continues to thrill the human imagination. Befittingly, Hollywood gives form to extraterrestrial life time and again, simultaneously creating and reinforcing imaginary archetypes. The pursuit of real knowledge of extraterrestrial life, however, belongs to scientists, conspiracy theorists and, perhaps, to artists. Korean sculptor U-Ram Choe creates the possibility of quasi-artificial intelligent life born of the energy and detritus of our urban landscape. Using metal, acrylic, sensors and clocklike mechanics, Choe constructs kinetic models of the fantastic creatures that he imagines live above our urban centers, in our subway tunnels; that hover above street lamps along darkened highways and thrive on both the energy and pollution created by our way of life.
Choe relies on basic organic forms like birds, flowers and insects to build his machine-organisms. Pointed and sometimes filigreed metallic bodies, tentacles and tails contrast with the milky, leaflike wings that cover mechanical frames like skin and flutter softly as if flying or breathing as you pass them by. Sculptural forms hover, suspended from the ceiling, hum and cast elaborate shadows, dramatically asserting their presence despite their slight scale. As creatures, they seem somewhat indifferent to our presence, but because they supposedly rely on the byproducts of modern human existence, they also seem slightly menacing and more than a bit parasitic.
Elaborate narratives and invented mythologies accompany each animallike sculpture in this exhibition, explaining through fantasy what we seem not yet capable of understanding any other way. Choe’s stories also read like tabloid news flashes, reporting bizarre and groundbreaking findings. About Urbanus (genus Anmopista Volaticus Floris Uram) he writes, “United Research of Anima-Machines, a.k.a. U.R.A.M, has recently released a remarkable study in relation to the discovery of a new inorganic creature. The discovery of this new machine-organism is sure to cause a sensation amongst urban energy researchers.” He then describes the creature’s common and scientific names, habitat, function and lifespan. Urbanus consists of female and male forms suspended above cities. The female absorbs and emits energy that wafts upward from urban centers, much like a plant performs photosynthesis, and the male receives energy from the female as a fish filters oxygen through its gills.
The visual impact of Choe’s forms is not entirely dependent upon the stories he relates or the realities he imagines. His descriptions are part pseudoscience, part B-movie plot and partially realized environmental commentary. Strangely, though, these creatures relate to our ultra-urban lives in a way that can really only exist in conjunction with the unnatural. In his narratives, what Choe does communicate most powerfully are ideas of self-reflection and possibility. What if such creatures could exist? It feels a bit exciting.
And yet, what if they did exist? Think of the millions of computers, cars, lights—machines—running, humming, heating. Think of human vitality in the form of thoughts, intentions, creations and endeavors. Through his work, Choe invites us to consider our vulnerable relationship to the phenomena of the physical, architectural and technical worlds in which we live so blindly and intimately.
Tracee W. Robertson is an independent curator and Associate Professor in the Collin County Community College District.