This work was realized in the context of my participation in the artist collective 'Gate22', which did research and realized art works connected to the US-army base in Seoul / Yongsan. The influence of the army base on the development of its neighborhoods and the South Korean society where themes for the research
From 2009 to 2019 I was living just a few hundred meters away from the US army Yongsan garrison. it covers about 2.6 square kilometers and is located near the Han river right in the middle of Seoul. Every time tensions got complicated between North- and South-Korea the fear that war could brake out and a first attack would destroy our neighborhood where a part of every day life. Because for normal citizens it was not possible to have a look inside of the garrison it became a target for my imagination.
‘Divine Mercy’ shows an imagined part of the Yongsan garrison in a frozen moment of time on the night of Halloween.
Some soldiers are enjoying a bbq meal, some are packing things for moving. others are sitting in front of their computers dreaming, some making shady deals or having a cigarette break. Children in halloween costumes are running around for trick & treat, some of them getting caught in restricted areas.
In a corner you see a part of the Korean neighborhood beside the base, where next to the fences somebody used abandoned land to grow vegetables, a Korean right wing protester build his tent on the street waving a Korean & American flag and has a sign that says “This is an order of the people - armed forces, arise!”.
Above all a chinook helicopter hovers in the air. A guy in halloween costume with gas-mask leaning out the door. Most of the soldiers on the ground are astonished and staring at the hovering helicopter, one of them is opening his arms in expectation of a holy miracle.
