Ryu Biho
South Korea
Ryu Biho was born in Gunsan, South Korea he lives and works in Berlin & Seoul. Most of his work is video based composed of complex psychological metaphors as image installation work. Especially, he is trying to connect the psychological and emotional areas to the audience by attracting the surrounding factors such as air, fog, light, rain and sound mixed with the specific situation.
Following his first solo exhibition titled The Steel Sun in 2000, he has co-organized Artistic Acts through Hacking(2001) - a ‘research group on art, society and media’ with contemporarian artists, organizers and media researchers – and Parasite-Tactical Media Networks(2004-2006), etc. and conducted research and artistic activities. Throughout the period, he released artworks raising aesthetic questions on art and society, including Flexible Landscape(2008, 2009), Extreme Private Practice(2010), Mutual Escape(2010) and Twin Peaks(2011). He also participated in such group exhibitions as Wrap Around the Time(Nam June Paik Art Center), The special project for the 20th anniversary of the Gwangju Biennale: "Sweet Dew - Since 1980”(The 5.18 Democracy Plaza, Gwangju), The Future is Now!(La Friche Belle de Mai, Marseille) and Bad Boys, Here and Now(Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art). He was invited to Sungkok Art Museum in 2015 for being recognized as ‘Awardee of 'Sungkok Artist of Tomorrow’ in 2013, organizing his solo exhibition - In My Sky at Twilight(2015).
I have been interested in the natural environment, culture and history of Northern Europe for a long time. What I am particularly interested in this Glenfiddich Artists in Residence is the birth of whiskey's magical and mysterious flavour, which is produced in fermentation, distillation, and aging processes of malt in whiskey manufacturing processes. It is also a close look at the skilful work of craftsmen who have been making this for a long time. And the process of producing whiskey to me is very similar to that of a medieval alchemist who invented mysterious potions. Whisky is a mystery to people, and is considered a special gift from God to man.
