This is a video documentation of a lecture “Why Ghosts, Spies, and Grandmothers?” delivered by Park Chan-kyong, the artistic director of SeMA Biennale Mediacity Seoul 2014 Ghosts Spies and Grandmothers. The lecture was held on 23 October, 2014, from 16:00 to 16:50 at the Seoul Museum of Art as the first symposium of Miracles, Violence, Disorders, a joint event of SeMA Biennale Mediacity Seoul 2014 and the Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation’s International Workshop and Academy.
Miracles, Violence, Disorders was a multifaceted conference comprising lectures, workshops, and performances. It explored shared concerns of that year’s biennale and the Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation—namely, Asian history and culture—through the keywords ghosts, spies, and grandmothers. Rather than seeking academic proof of the overarching theme, the conference encouraged open discussions on concrete subjects and works related to the uncanny, violence, chaos, and spirits.