Catharsis (2019)
2D Cinematic Video
Commissioned by the Pinchuk Foundation, Kyiv
Catharsis is a large-scale, immersive installation that pulls audiences into a digital simulation of a re-imagined old-growth forest. This imaginary forest has existed undisturbed for hundreds of years, free from human intervention and suffused with birdsong. It was developed through fieldwork conducted by Jakob Kudsk Steensen and his primary collaborator Matt McCorkle, and its virtual ecosystem and synchronized spatial audio were built from 3D textures and sounds collected in a number of North American forests.
Set up as a continuous shot that moves from watery underground roots to the the forest’s canopy, Catharsis draws on Kudsk Steensen’s concept of ‘slow media’. As a philosophy and a practice, ‘slow media’ uses digital technologies to draw attention to the natural world and create new narratives on our ecological futures. Collapsing various ecological timelines, the work operates as a digital portal. It takes viewers on a meditative journey through a holistic new world, slowed down and up close.
Catharsis was exhibited at the Serpentine Galleries in January 2020 for Connect BTS 2020, the global public art project initiated by South Korean supergroup BTS. The original version of Catharsis was commissioned by the Pinchuk Art Centre (Kyiv). The work continues Kudsk Steensen and his studio Erratic Animist’s focus on emerging ecological realities, and the ways that digital technologies can be used to engage with past and present natural environments. The hope is that Catharsis creates a temporal space that gives audiences an overwhelming sense of communion and harmony.
CONNECT BTS x JAKOB KUDSK STEENSEN (2020)
The Serpentine Galleries presented Catharsis as part of global public art project, CONNECT, BTS. The series was initiated by South Korean supergroup BTS, and will present five major free public artworks in five cities on four continents around the world. The initiative’s aim is to redefine the relationships between art and music, material and immaterial, artists and their audiences, artists and artists, theory and practice. Catharsis was presented as a major outdoor installation on the grounds of the Serpentine Galleries' Zaha Hadid-designed extension, set against the beautiful green spaces of Kensington Gardens.
For more information, please visit Catharsis at the Serpentine Galleries and see selected press & media section below.
Livestream the accompanying soundscape at catharsis.live
About Connect, BTS:
Connect, BTS
Catharsis on Twitch
BTS instagram
CATHARSIS, Commissioned by Pinchuk Foundation 2019
The original version for Catharsis was a 3.5 minute video projected on 9 channel install on monolithic LED walls that surrounded the audience in a 3D scanned forest. The work was commissioned by the Pinchuk Foundation in 2019, along with works by Olafur Eliasson, Jeff Koons and others for the annual Yalta European Strategy forum. The experience behaves as an uncut flow, a single shot through a landscape where humidity, light, and 3D scanned textures burst into constellations of otherworldly patterns. Time itself loops into the experience, and twists and turns across the 9 screens arranged in a circular configuration that mimics the sacral format of ancient ritual sites like Stonehenge.
CREDITS
Artist and developer, Jakob Kudsk Steensen
Sound artist, Matt McCorkle
SELECTED PRESS & MEDIA
Billboard News: Selena Gomez on 'Rare,' BTS Launches 'Connect' & Billie Eilish to Write Song for 007 Franchise
EFE: K-Pop giants BTS launch global art project ahead of new LP
The Times: K Pop Stars BTS Launch Global Art Project at the Serpentine Gallery
New York Times: BTS Announces Global Arts Project Featuring Antony Gormley
NME: BTS announce global contemporary art project: “We want to send a positive message to the world”
NME: Inside Connect, BTS – the Korean pop revolutionaries’ incredible global art project
Guardian: K-pop art: BTS team up with Antony Gormley for global project
Evening Standard: CONNECT, BTS: Korean boyband team up with Serpentine in world-wide free art project
Dazed: What you need to know about BTS’ global free art project CONNECT, BTS
Rolling Stone: BTS Will Fund 22 Artists for ‘Global Project’
Londonist: K-Pop Superstars BTS Unveil New Artwork At The Serpentine
Apollo: Only connect – K-pop beams into the Serpentine Galleries
ARTNews: BTS, Globe-Trotting K-Pop Stars, Fund Artist Projects in Five International Cities
Art Net News: A K-Pop Boy Band Is Launching a Wildly Ambitious Public Art Project in Five Cities Across the World
The Art Newspaper: Korean Wave Hits the Art World: K-Pop Stars Collaborate on Major Artist Projects
ArtLyst: Connect, BTS: Global Project Merges Music And Visual Art
Bollywood Hungama: With Connect BTS, the South Korean septet is redefining music and art
Showbiz Cheatsheet: BTS Starts Another Global Movement With Public Art Project 'Connect, BTS'
Hypebae: BTS Kicks Off Global Public Art Project, 'CONNECT, BTS'