Instant Friends

For Immediate Release: Taeyoon Choi Solo Exhibition “My friends, there is no friend”

Dear Friends

It is my pleasure to inform you that I will have a solo exhibition at Spanien 19C, an artist run space in Aarhus, Denmark, opening in December 3rd 2011. Annette Finnsdottir, creative director and curator of http://www.netfilmmakers.dk/, invited me to exhibit new work and it has been a great opportunity to plan an exhibition for one full year with support from Spanien 19C and through my fellowship at Eyebeam Art and Technology Center, New York City.

The title “My friends, there is no friend” is borrowed from Jacques Derrida’s essay ‘Politics of Friendship’ where he quotes it from Aristotle who called it to a ‘saying whose origin seems to lose itself in the anonymity of time immemorial’. The exhibition will unfold in three parts, the first part will be performances in the public spaces of New York City, Coppenhagen and Aarhus, the second part will be an installation of objects, drawings and video documentations in Spanien 19C and the third part will be online. The exhibition revolves around two thematic axis, firstly the conditions of affinity and intimacy will be explored through new projects such as ‘Best Friend’ a pet substitute for various needs, ‘Instant Friend’ D.I.Y kit for a lonely person. On the other hand, the limits of community, collectivity and the phantom of democracy will be explored in two other projects ‘First World Problem’: a research diary about urbanization and ‘You Can Live Forever’: excerpts from a fiction I’m writing about twelve friends who become involved in an insurrection.

The online exhibition will be presented on http://IGetFriends.com (a blog for now) in various file formats and instructional contents with participatory elements. The website and URL will be accessible online and continue to transform throughout the exhibition. In December 25th, the website will be available for sale through an internet auction. The bid starts at $1. This will be my first work to be sold online.

Thank you for your interest,

Your friend,
Taeyoon Choi