I thought it’s my fish cake

Young-jun Tak
„I thought it’s my fish cake“, 2022

Exhibition:
Forming Communities: Berliner Wege, KINDL Centre for Contemporary Art, Berlin, 28.08.2022–05.02.2023

I thought it is my fish cake

Made in ceramic, glazed in vivid orange and collaged on back sides, the sculptural installation “I thought it’s my fish cake” shows two life-sized male bodies laid on the ground. As if they are dug out at an excavation site, fragmental body parts are scattered while suggesting a particular scene. Clues of the story between the two men can be found on back sides of the ceramic sculptures, collaged with black and white papers of an old news from South Korea and packages of Korean fish cake brands. Back in 2006 in a Korean city before the arrival of smartphones and gay dating apps, a man was arrested after grabbing and biting another man’s penis in a sleeping room at a 24-hour-open sauna. During the police investigation, the harasser made a sensational excuse about his motivation. Due to the darkness of the sleeping room he mistook the penis for a long sausage-looking fish cake that he ordered from the sauna’s restaurant. Tak’s work represents this incident, however, the victim’s penis turned into an enormous fish cake that is broken and collapsed. Because of its surreal size and shape the situation seems to be derived from a greco-roman metamorphosis myth or legend. Each ceramic component is casted directly onto the artist’s own body parts except for the genitals.

Fischkuchen

Tags:

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.