Jeamin Cha

Chroma-key and Labyrinth
single channel video installation, 2013, HD video, 15minutes, color/sound

Chroma-key and Labyrinth is a short video made using the Chroma key compositing technique and delicate camera movements. This video juxtaposes two kinds of “hand movements”: a cable- worker’s hands installing cables and the same hand-movements removed out of their work context, thereby stripped of any value of labor. The “hand” symbolizes two conflicting meanings: it stands for the excessive isolation of each process of manual work, but it is also used to mythicize craftsmanship. The process of manual work is isolated from its products. But it is also exalted as a skilled technique or a critical tool to seek one’s self-fulfillment. The polarized abstract receptions of manual labor could create the illusion that labor can be removed from the personalities of the individual, and can be controlled only for the sake of productivity. This video questions how accurately we perceive the word “labor”, while saying it. The video also tries to find the possibility to unveil the process of abstraction that occludes the real effects of physical labor.

A Film by
Jeamin Cha

Cast
Dongyeol Jun

Producer Work on Work
Assistants Youngji Hur, Seijin Kim
Director of Photography Gookhyun Kang
Music Minwhee Lee

Special Thanks to
The Solidarity of Hope, Cable Worker Union

supported by
The Seoul Metropolis, Seoul Foundation for Art and Culture, Seoul Art Space Geumcheon