The collaborative project 'No Ghost Just A Shell' by French artists Pierre Huyghe and Philippe Parreno is being held at the Buk-Seoul Museum of Art in Seoul until August 4th.
In 1999, they purchased a minor background character from a Japanese animation company at a low cost, naming her 'Annlee' and providing her with a narrative.
Over the past three years, about 20 artists have created around 30 works in various forms such as paintings, sculptures, videos, posters, books, and music, all centered on this character.
This exhibition presents these works, showcasing a multi-author project where each piece stands as an individual work while sharing the same character created by different artists.
The title of the exhibition is borrowed from the Japanese animation 'Ghost in the Shell,' which questions whether a human-like consciousness can exist within a cyborg's body.
Meanwhile, Huyghe and Parreno established an association under Annlee's name, transferring the copyright to the character herself. In 2022, they declared her disappearance in a firework display at Art Basel Miami, symbolizing her liberation and death.
Although Annlee met her end through this act of liberation, the works have been acquired by the Van Abbemuseum in the Netherlands. This exhibition is a reconfiguration of these pieces.
Sayart / Nao Yim, yimnao@naver.com
