“Urban Myth” Episode I – Choe U-Ram’s Alchemy of Anima Machine
Down they fly. From the Ancient past, like an enigma, floating, 200 meters above the tower. The mysterious, bizarre creature, the Urbanus, descends from the sky, amazing and shining. It unfolds itself, layers and layers, with its extravagance and glamour, before you, speaking so tenderly of distant tales of the cities.
“It breathes. It flutters. It glows. It whispers.”
Its beauty unparalleled, the realistic yet unreal Anima Machine is the future creature that has been since the ancient past, made by Korean artist Choe U-Ram. It’s the fascinating artwork of kinetic machinery. Their body of stainless steel, yet filled with human warmth, like a life, breathe and sway and communicate with your soul.
They are not AI. Choe’s U.R.A.M. lab discovers their heartbeats; from Latin they found scientific reports that prove the existence of those soul machines and their identifications. They also question the truth of biological memory as well as the recognition of time and space.
As for those urban drifters, the Urbanus, they first lived in Tokyo. Urbanus Female, with their body in the shape of a flower, absorb universal energies; when they unfold themselves like the flower blossom, it’s when they release their energy and light. Urbanus Male drift around the females, awaiting their release of energy and light, to which they would unfold their blades so they can absorb them. In summer, adult female drifters would give birth to countless miniature machines that would float and dance among the skyscrapers like dandelion seeds. Adult males would embed genes into those minute machines with mighty pulse waves. The minute machines receive the waves and grow into larvae; among them, only one in a thousand would mature into female. Male larvae grow cuddling against mature female drifters, and they begin to connect when they turn 8 inches long, attaching to one another into a line. When ten of them are connected, those male larvae grow into male drifters.
Such is the story of Choe U-Ram’s works. It begins with mythic fables and explores in the cycle of the universe with a fantastic imagination of regression, from the future all the way back to the creation of all, connecting the real world and the supernatural. It may be sophisticated, profound and unintelligible, but it also invites the audience to construct and interpret what they see before their eyes.
By the 35th anniversary of Metaphysical Art Gallery, we are privileged to have the family of Choe’s urban drifters. They come with their immortal cakra and sacred wings, flying over the exotic space of the Gallery. Even Taiwan’s own Papillo maraho butterflies glides their welcome.
This is a dreamlike, captivating once-in-a-lifetime encounter. Choe U-Ram’s alchemy of Anima Machine. You most certainly shouldn’t miss.
