Catalogue > At random

This second film from Young-jun Tak's on-going choreographic film series challenges the conventional binarity of gender presentations through queer male bodies and movements. It juxtaposes the hypermasculinity and hyperfemininity. The former is presented by Spanish Legion soldiers’ spectacular annual Maundy Thursday ritual carrying the life-sized crucifix in Malaga during the Holy Week that leads to the Easter Sunday. The latter can be found in Kenneth MacMillan’s ballet “Manon” (1974) where numerous male dancers worship the eponymous female protagonist in Act 2 Scene 1 by constantly lifting up and carrying her in the air. In spite of the two situations’ obvious difference, the glorification of two gender displays surprisingly reveals their similarity, for instance, in the lifted bodies’ open arms. In this regard, a new choreography, inspired by the specific scene of “Manon”, is commissioned to choreographer Jamal Callender—including himself as lead dancer—with five other gay male dancers, and a few preconditions were given to him: Manon should be male; his barefoot should never touch the dirt on the ground; and the choreography should be performed in Berlin’s popular gay cruising forest Grunewald. Throughout this film, the Spanish soldiers’ public ritual and the six male dancers’ choreography alternate while their bodies and movements, exposed to either crowded audience’s eyes on streets or hidden lustful gazes in bushes, try to fill the gap between the polarized gender presentations.

Young-jun Tak (born 1989, in Seoul, South Korea) is visual artist and filmmaker, and he lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Tak’s practice examines socio-cultural and psychological mechanisms that shape belief systems, ranging from simple objects of worship to sophisticated forms of religions. Blurring the lines between media, techniques, and subject matters, his films and sculptures pursue obfuscation as a tool of critique, and the human body is often exposed in the context of polarizing norms and conventions. Recent solo exhibitions include PHILIPPZOLLINGER (Zurich, 2024); COMA (Sydney, 2024); Atelier Hermès (Seoul, 2024); Julia Stoschek Foundation (Berlin, Dusseldorf, 2023); palace enterprise (Copenhagen, 2023); Wanås Konst (Knislinge 2023); O—Overgaden (Copenhagen, 2023); SOX (Berlin, 2022); and Efremidis (Berlin, 2022). He has participated in numerous international group exhibitions such as at St.Moritz Art Film Festival (2024); Bangkok Art Biennale (2024); the High Line (New York, 2023); Chicago Architecture Biennial (2023); Lyon Biennale (2022); Perrotin (Paris, 2022); KINDL Center for Contemporary Art (Berlin, 2022); Berlin Biennale (2020), Seoul Museum of Art (2019); and Istanbul Biennial (2017). Tak won the “Love at First Sight Prize” at the 3rd St.Moritz Art Film Festival and the “TOY Berlin Masters Award” at the 9th Berlin Masters. He studied English Language and Literature, as well as Cross-Cultural Studies at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul.