Hello everyone, this blog is about CONNECT, BTS, a global project and an international initiative developed in collaboration with curators from five major cities – London, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Seoul, and New York.
The purpose is to redefine relations between art and music, artists and their audiences, theory and practice.
BTS is the South-Korean boy-band, whose idea it was to bring this project to life, focusing on diversity and originality as well as giving special attention to the periphery and the overlooked.
Daehyung Lee (b.1974) is the artistic director of CONNECT, BTS.

Although we are currently living in a world of hyper connectivity, isolation is still part of many people’s lives; this doesn’t only affect us as individuals but certain communities and nations as well. Therefore, the aim of the project is to connect people around the world who are re-assessing their current situation, attitudes, and possibilities.

The central reasons of CONNECT, BTS partly refer to the philosophy of BTS, which revolves mostly around diversity, love, and self-acceptance. By collaborating with 22 contemporary artists, BTS creates the opportunity for a fruitful and equal encounter between the worlds of visual arts and pop music. This project supports contemporary art in its practice and aims to create a basis for new synergies.

Introduction to BTS:

BTS is a seven-member South Korean boy band formed in Seoul in 2010. They were originally a hip-hop group, but their musical style has since evolved to include a wider variety of genres. Their lyrics often focus on personal and social commentary, touch on the themes of mental health, troubles of school-age youth, loss, the journey towards loving oneself, and individualism.

From the beginning, BTS have held the belief that telling their story is the only way for the younger generation to relate to their music; that is why the group writes over 90% of their own lyrics.

Having sold over 20 million albums on the Gaon Music Chart, BTS is the best-selling artist in South Korean history. The septet attracted one in every 13 foreign tourists that visited South Korea and were cited as one of the key acts boosting global music sales to $19 billion in 2018.
As of 2019, BTS are worth more than $4.65 billion to South Korea’s economy each year, equalling 0.3 percent of the country’s GDP.  

Projects

Project I
London, United Kingdom – Catharsis (14.01.20-31.05.20) at Serpentine Galleries by Jakob Kudsk Steensen (b.1987)

In London, the online exhibition was shown at the Serpentine Galleries and ran from the 14^th of January to the 31^st of May. The Danish artist Jakob Kudsk Steensen is concerned how imagination, ecology and technology intertwine. Through virtual reality and video installations he shows viewers new ecological realities.

Catharsis is a digital simulation of a re-imagined old-growth forest, which has developed undisturbed over hundreds of years. The work’s virtual ecosystem and the synchronised audio included sounds gathered from several North American forests as well as 3D textures established on field work done by Jakob Kudsk Steensen and his primary collaborator Matt McCorkle.

The video is set up as a single continuous shot that begins at the watery underground and rises up to the canopy. Catharsis is influenced by Steensen’s conception of ‘slow media’ where attention to the natural world can be advanced through digital technologies and build new narratives about our ecological futures. Catharsis is a digital portal, giving audiences access to past and present natural environments, slowed down and up close.

Project II
Berlin, Germany – Rituals of Care (15.01.-02.02.20) at Gropius Bau by Various Artists

The first show in 2020 at the Gropius Bau in Berlin showed a series of performances that dealt with topics of particular current urgency, such as the Anthropocene, violence and repair.
The Rituals of Care series ties in with the history of the exhibition place, the location, and the physical characteristics of the building, which shows traces of war damage even today.
The exhibition was curated by Stephanie Rosenthal and Noémie Solomon.

The show consists of a performance series which combine experimental choreography, healing practices, sound installations and community gathering. Many artists were involved including Bill Fontana, Antonija Livingstone, Pan Daijing and Mette Ingvartsen.

The interdisciplinary work deals with the basic conditions of how we act together and deal with our environment, the physical as well as the spiritual world and other living beings. Using a range of physical techniques, queer reinterpretations and indigenous perspectives, the performances show radical measures of care and repair.

Project III
Buenos Aires, Argentina – Fly with Aerocene Pacha at Salinas Grandes (21.01.-22.03.20) by Tomás Saraceno (b. 1973)

The project for Buenos Aires, was developed by the Argentinian artist Tomás Saraceno for the Aerocene Foundation. This was the culmination of over 20 years of experimental work.

Fly with Aerocene Pacha took off on January 28^th 2020 in the salt flats of Salinas Grandes, Argentina, becoming the first ever balloon-like structure to lift a human into the atmosphere, without the use of fossil fuels, helium, or lithium. Solar energy is “the motor”.
It became the most sustainable flight in human history and set six world records across two categories.

The project is named after Pacha Mama, the Andean concept that connects what lies below and above the Earth’s surface to the furthest reaches of the cosmos, uniting space, and time.
As there are harmful lithium extraction practices in northern Argentina Aerocene Pacha’s idea was to bring indigenous peoples and diverse communities together to raise their voice against these procedures.

Project IV
Seoul, South Korea – Green, Yellow and Pink by Ann Veronica Janssens (b.1956) & Beyond the Scene by Yi-Yun Kang (b.1982) at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (28.01- 20.03.20)

Two different exhibitions of CONNECT, BTS took place in Seoul, the artists were: Ann Veronica Janssens from UK and Belgium and Yi-Yun Kang from South Korea.

Green, Yellow and Pink by Ann Veronica Janssens who is known for exploring the sensory experience of reality, suggests that all perception is fragile. She disrupts ideas by using the properties of space, light, translucent or reflective surfaces as well as radiant colour.
The exhibition lets the visitor gaze into a mist which appears to remove all spatial and temporal markers, at the same time, however, the installation seems to convey a sense of tactility and materiality to light itself.

Another part of the exhibition by Ann Veronica Janssens is called Rose, where seven beams of light form a rose, which morphs between different shapes. It is part of Janssens’ Fog Star series which explores the capacity of haze to give sculptural form to light.

The exhibition Beyond the Scene by Yi-Yun Kang explores the intersection of art, technology, and experience by creating captivating projection-mapped environments. The moving images of her installed works seek a symbiotic relationship between spatial narrative, hybrid imagery, and space unexplored by traditional screens.

The title of the exhibition alludes to BTS themselves as this is one of the acronyms referring to their group name.

Beyond the Scene is a new interpretation of BTS’ signature dance movements which are seen through projection mapping. The dynamic key movements of BTS’ choreographies are performed by dancers behind a white fabric. The figures’ silhouettes seem abstract and anonymous, but with time shapes and forms are brought together, like a metaphor of how the band was built with the support of their fans known as A.R.M.Y. (Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth).

Project V
New York, United States – New York Clearing (05.02-27.03.20) at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 3 by Antony Gormley (b.1950)

Antony Gormley is one of the most famous UK sculptors. His sculptures, installations, and public artworks are widely acclaimed and explore the relationship of the human body to space.
In the 1960s he cast his own body as well as other peoples to confront the elemental questions of where human beings stand in relation to nature and the cosmos.

The final installment of Connect, BTS is an outdoor installation, New York Clearing (2020) showing a swirling thin metal line looping and swooping continuously without a beginning or an end. The work is exhibited outside at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 3, without any architectural support. The silhouette of the sculpture interacts with the distant Manhattan skyline.
The installation also responds to the fundamental behaviour and qualities of the aluminium tubing. The highs and lows of the composition insinuate the rhythm of music.

Visitors are encouraged to walk through the sculpture as through their presence it becomes truly complete.

Conclusion

The project CONNECT, BTS, merges all kinds of artists from different backgrounds and nationalities.
The chosen artists all contribute to BTS’ message and philosophy which is that life will have a number of  challenges and difficulties, but in the end, they can be overcome. Believing and trusting in oneself, as well as loving oneself will help you achieve anything you want in life.
BTS’ message transcends all races, ages and countries and focuses on diversity as well as originality.
Their music is an empathic vision for the world.

Connect, BTS reaches for a collective experience that might only be the beginning of new communication between art, music and people.

The achievement of these 5 amazing projects is due to the dedication and financial support of BTS and the vision of the artistic director Daehyung Lee, who was able to translate the philosophy and music of BTS into an overwhelming visual language.

PS: I’ve been a BTS Fan since 2017 and went to one of their concerts in 2018! As an art historian and art addict I was very happy to follow their involvement in the creation of such wonderful works of art and am already curious about their future projects!