In the shadow cast by the Cold War, South Korea remains in a military standoff with North Korea, enforcing mandatory military service for male citizens aged between 18 and 35. Artist and filmmaker Kelvin Kyung Kun Park’s documentary Army (2018) chronicles Woochul’s two-year journey from a military novice to a retiree as he is thrust into the life of being part of a tight-knit collective. As Woochul endures mental and emotional transformations in the film, Park’s voice emerges to narrate his own struggles and feelings from his military service a decade earlier. The convergence of the two men’s experience provides insights into the current state of South Korea, shaped by its weighty history, as well as a contemplation on collectivism, fanaticism, and mundanity. Where does an individual’s soul find its place within a collective entity?

The screening will be followed by a post-screening talk with Kelvin Kyung Kun Park, moderated by Kate Gu, Associate Curator, Digital Special Projects, M+.

Kelvin Kyung Kun Park (b. 1978, South Korea) is a Seoul-based artist that works primarily in the medium of film and video, photography, and installation. Park’s works often deal with the subject of the unconscious and its relations with technology and subjectivity of individuals and the collective. His award-winning films and installations have been shown at various venues such as Busan International Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, HotDocs, New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Taipei Biennale, and Sharjah Biennial. Park is the winner of Leeum Samsung Museum of Art’s Art Spectrum award, Busan Film Festival’s best documentary award, and a nominee for MMCA Korea Artist Prize and BMW Art Journey as well as being selected for the Chanel x Frieze ‘Now & Next’ series.