November 30 – December 30, 2014

Public Storage 663 Terminal Ave, Vancouver

Curated by Sojin Kim
artwork by Byungseo Yoo
documentation by Byron Dauncey

Cinema Behind the Orange Gate (2014) took place at Vancouver’s Public Storage as an alternative exhibition space to feature Byungseo Yoo’s Disposable Cinema, a moving folio scope made out of recycled and found objects, first presented in a controversial TV show, 'Art Star Korea' (2014). Following the structure and rules of classic survival shows, 'Art Star Korea' invited a celebrity host, Jung Ryeo-won, fifteen emerging artists, and a panel of judges with powerful names in the South Korean contemporary scene/world. Each week, contestants were given a task to create an artwork in response to the proposed theme. At the end of each episode, a contestant whose work was judged as “the weakest” was eliminated, leaving Byeongseo Yoo and Shin Jae-hyun as one of the finalists. (Un)fortunately, it was Shin who eventually won the competition, taking a cash prize of one million South Korean won and the shiny title, ‘Art Star Korea’.



Public Storage, among many other storage businesses in Vancouver, blends with the contemporary (industrial) landscape of the city. It is a 'non-place' (Augé) and a panopticon* tailored and conditioned specifically for objects and against humans: Public Storage is a maze-like space with endless rooms of homogenous orange gates that guard (abandoned) objects. It is climate-controlled for maintaining good conditions for the inhabited objects; each floor is heavily surveilled with security cameras documenting all movements in the facility (constantly being monitored and recorded by the staff in their office); there are no windows for ventilation, and items that may cause damage to stored objects are prohibited (water, for instance). It’s a bizarre place where objects dominate—swallowing the whole space with their architectural and spiritual presence-- humans within, who alternatively become futile objects being conditioned by a set environment.





*Byeongseo Yoo calls Public Storage "a prison for objects"