YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES: MISS DMZ

The video "Miss DMZ" by YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES is - typical for the artist duo - a pure text video with a snappy soundtrack. It tells an incredible story - at an incredible pace; overload is intentional here. The protagonist finds a flyer in front of a greengrocer's shop in Seoul that points to a duty-free store "here in Palpan-dong" (Palpan-dong is a district of Seoul). Surprisingly, the entrance is in the back of this same greengrocer's shop and the protagonist descends many steps into a cellar and then breathlessly follows the signs through a rambling, never-ending tunnel system. At the end of the tunnel, he enters a room that looks like the lobby of an Eastern European grand hotel from the 19th century. Festively dressed people drink martinis and are shown goods by servants. The newcomer is greeted by "Miss DMZ", obviously a personal account manager. She explains that they are in the "DMZ Duty Free Store" (Palpan-dong doesn't tell her anything). Both spend an unforgettable night - on the dance floor, in the casino, in bed. Then the protagonist has to leave the "DMZ Duty Free Store". When he wants to return the next day, however, he finds only boxes of instant noodle soup in the basement of the grocery shop.

The demilitarised zone (DMZ) runs along the Korean Peninsula between North and South Korea. It was established after the Korean War in 1953, is 248 kilometres long and about four kilometres wide. The border between North and South Korea - the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) - runs through its centre. Entering the DMZ without permission from the Military Armistice Commission is generally prohibited for both sides. There have been and continue to be many deadly incidents in the DMZ. To date, a total of four so-called "infiltration tunnels" have been found dug under the DMZ from the north to the south. (Inke Arns)

YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES is Young-hae Chang (Korea) and Marc Voge (USA). Based in Seoul, they have written their signature animated texts set to their own music in 26 languages and shown many of them at some of the major art institutions in the world, including Tate, London, Centre Pompidou, Paris, Whitney Museum and New Museum, New York. They have been in the Venice and São Paulo Biennials, among others, won the Webby Award for best art Web site, San Francisco, received a Foundation for Contemporary Arts grant, New York, and been Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Creative Arts Fellows. M+, in Hong Kong, has acquired an ensemble of all of their past and future work, YHCHANG.COM/AP2: THE COMPLETE WORKS. They gave the 2020 Renato Poggioli Lecture at Harvard University.