SAMSUNG MEANS REBIRTH is a newly produced seven-episode flash animation series by YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES. With their characteristic humor, the artists use Samsung—Korea’s biggest conglomerate—as a device for exploring themes ranging from working conditions in Korea today to the deep-seated vices of corporate culture, the hypocrisy of the media, and the contradictions of global capitalism. In the work, a Samsung executive who died of overwork comes back to life first as a Samsung smartphone, then as a skin scrubber at a public bath frequented by Samsung employees. The plot has the executive returning to life over and over again, reborn with each new episode. The soundtrack that plays alongside the texts features new arrangements of popular Korean songs from different eras, ranging from the “trot” genre that originated during the Japanese occupation in the early twentieth century to recent hits from the 1990s. The seven videos are scattered across different locations in the museum; viewers can use QR codes placed at each work to locate the next episode.
