CitySavage

ICP, originally uploaded by willowyangcn.

I came across the message about Atta Kim's photo exhibition at a photographic forum. A brief introduction to the exhibition shows he uses the long exposure technique. It didn't look very appealing to me, at that moment. Then Monika recommended him to me again, in the middle of a dinner. It must be something unique.

I stepped into ICP, where they have one of Atta Kim's project: On-Air.
The big picture on the entrance is riveting and mysterious. It looks like lava with yellow glow. What is that? It turns out a melting ice cube. It took about 8 hours of exposure, and recorded the whole life span of a block of melting ice cube. The long exposure make the light glowing, and full of energy. The photographer is trying to convey the greatness of unnoticeable, the engergy of the stillness, through the insurmountable chisel of time.
The DMZ series are amazing too. It took the photographer years to get the permission to take pictures in the de-militarized zone. And the exposure for each pictures takes around 8 hours. The photographer says the pictures are taken by a shutter speed of 8hours/50yrs (the South Korea is separate from North Korea for 50 years).