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In “The Labyrinth,” George Bataille compares conventional architecture with the labyrinth in order to critique the repression inherent to social order. Conventional architecture imposes order upon chaos; the labyrinth is where all oppositions collide into chaos. The encounters of different beings in the labyrinth recur, making them more complex and beautiful. |
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My work creates a world where the perception of time, space, and sensation are magnified beyond their usual boundaries.
Jaeeun Lee, Se Gwoemul, 2011. Performance in custom made bodysuit printed with a photographic image of the artist, custom made 15 foot-long grey wig, blonde wig, microphone, keyboard, delay pedal, amplifier, speakers, triangle, wood, plastic sheeting, PVC piping. Courtesy of the artist.
The Labyrinth
Jaeeun Lee
In “The Labyrinth,” George Bataille compares conventional architecture with the labyrinth in order to critique the repression inherent to social order. Conventional architecture imposes order upon chaos; the labyrinth is where all oppositions collide into chaos. The encounters of different beings in the labyrinth recur, making them more complex and beautiful.
My work creates a world where the perception of time, space, and sensation are magnified beyond their usual boundaries. It is a labyrinth with the complex construction of oppositions such as the living and dead, male and female, empathy and apathy, beauty and repulsion, and real and illusion. Creatures in this labyrinth are monstrous, yet also vulnerable. This dynamic is exemplified in my custom-made bodysuit, on which a black and white photographic image of my naked body is printed. Steve Conner has written: “shame is of the body…[it is] a skin thing.” Unlike guilt that can be hidden inside, shame is visible: blushing, losing the face and having the skin taken away. Shame is an experience of inside-out where the anxious self, which is supposed to be hidden inside of the body, comes up to the surface. If shame is a “skin thing,” does the female figure in the bodysuit have her shame fully exposed, or completely hidden?
Shame and vulnerability are important materials in the labyrinth that I build into my work. A small person might feel vulnerable because of other people’s perception of her as a lesser person; a pervert because of the sense of shame that is generated by the collective norm; the ugly person because of the current idea of what is beautiful and ugly. I intend to question the social order that imposes vulnerability upon people, disclosing how we are all monsters under its rule.
