Waiting Room

 

Sculpture and video installation
Curator: Sadira Rodrigues

 

Jin’s Banana House exhibits an installation of video work by Jinhan Ko completed over the last several years. Drawing on, and often directly referencing, both the language of standup comedy, and the role of the storyteller, Ko beguiles the audience with his particular brand of charm, creating a false illusion of intimacy through the representation of apparently private, yet banal moments. In one video Ko stares directly at the viewer, encouraging them continually with enthusiastic comments – “that’s great, that’s fantastic”, his affirmations becoming meaningless after constant repetition. In another video a toaster burns in the foreground, whilst just out of range of the camera’s eye we hear the artist conducting everyday events, entering the room, talking on the phone with friends.

Jinhan Ko is a Toronto-based artist who is actively engaged in D.I.Y. activities. He has exhibited his video work in festivals such as the L.A. Freewaves Festival, Los Angles; Imapkt Festival, Utrecht; Images, Toronto and held performances at Southern Exposure, San Francisco, Mercer Union, Toronto. Recent projects have included the Urban Disco Trailer, a caravan fitted out as a retro party zone, and available to be rented as either gallery or venue. He is one of the founding members of Instant Coffee, an amorphous initiative which expands to include other artists, writers, designers and curators for specific projects. Working diversely across media, Instant Coffee often imitates or assumes the role of a corporate identity, hiding the individual participants behind an anonymous facade, and creating projects that play with commercial activities. In conjunction with Instant Coffee, Ko has exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, La Panderia, Mexico City and Christ Church, New Zealand.