FESTIVAL IN THE PARK

Friday May 16th

5pm - 6pm
Curatorial discussion: Layered Medium: We Are in Open Circuits
Kyunghwan Yeo, Co-curator
Maya El Khalil, Co-curator
Byungjun Kwon, artist
Choi Goen, artist

This discussion brings together co-curators Kyung-hwan Yeo and Maya El Khalil in conversation with participating artists Byungjun Kwon and Goen Choi. The curators will outline the conceptual questions that guided the exhibition – from initial encounters in Seoul to the development and discovery of new resonances in Abu Dhabi. The conversation will explore thematic frameworks and consider how the universal ideas of body, society, and space serve as access points into five decades of complex and innovative artistic practice. Kwon and Choi, whose works appear in the Space as Medium section, offer radically different approaches to space, perception, and infrastructure, reflecting the exhibition’s exploration of layered meaning and open circuits.

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6.15pm - 7.15pm
Exhibition design as a medium
‍Exhibition designers Formafantasma’s Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin in conversation with co-curators Kyunghwan Yeo & Maya El Khalil

Designers Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin, co-founders of the design studio Formafantasma, join co-curators Kyung-hwan Yeo and Maya El Khalil to discuss how exhibition design shapes the viewer’s encounter with art.

Reflecting on their approach to spatial design and the aesthetic language developed for Layered Medium: We Are in Open Circuits, the conversation explores how curatorial and design decisions together influence audience perception — not only of individual works, but of the relationships and rhythms that unfold between them. Offering insights into the interdependence of artworks, space, and audience, the conversation will reveal exhibition design itself as a crucial medium of cultural translation.

Saturday May 17th
5pm - 5.30pm
Talk: Chris Dercon in conversation with co-curators Kyung-hwan Yeo & Maya El Khalil

Chris Dercon, Director of the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain and former Director of Tate Modern (2011–2016), joins co-curators Kyung-hwan Yeo and Maya El Khalil to discuss his 1984 documentary film Nam June Paik. Drawing on his early collaboration with the pioneering media artist, Dercon reflects on the challenges of representing Paik’s radically experimental practice through film, and considers the broader historical context of media art during a pivotal moment in its development.

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5.30pm - 7.30pm
Film screening: Nam June Paik: Moon Is The Oldest TV, 2023
Featuring a captivating showcase of his work, this documentary profiles the career of Nam June Paik and his pioneering contributions to video art. Directed by Amanda Kim.

‍Thursday May 29th
Body as medium: InterFACES: Skin/Screen

In collaboration with the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence.

What if we understood the virtual and the physical as a continuum? This panel discussion explores how interfaces - from skin to canvas to screen - mediate sensory experiences and shape our relation to the world.

The body, as the seat of emotion and our most primal tool for communication, is often seen as the closest link to the self whereas virtual boundaries are regarded as disembodied surfaces and sites of projection. Yet, as movements are translated into mediated forms, and digital affects are assimilated into involuntary gestures, how to we distinguish between physical and virtual?

From body to image, artists have long treated surfaces as interfaces for expression and interaction. Whether through painting, performance, or pixels, they engage with questions of presence, bodily depiction, and self-representation. Bringing together diverse practitioners, this panel considers how our current era of hyperconnectivity has intensified and accelerated the porosity between these sites of encounter, destabilising the limits of the body and challenging our understanding of presence, identity and self.

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Saturday, June 14th
Society as medium‍

Friday June 20th
Space as medium