Incorporated in 2010, Premium Pages established herself as a strategic arts management and consultancy company based in Singapore, focusing on art advertising in Asia. Galleries all around Asia relied on her experiences and expertise to creatively and strategically promote their key artists on various platforms. Representing some of the best art magazines such as Asian Art News and World Sculpture News has positioned Premium Pages at the forefront of the industry. Since 2014, Premium Pages Collective was born as a subsidiary of Premium Pages, focusing on promoting emerging artists in art fairs throughout the world.
Represented by Premium Pages since 2016, Daegu ceramic artist Han A Ram (b. 1977) of South Korea has been selected to showcase her artworks at this year’s START Art Fair in London. Han A Ram is well known for her ceramic works examining the complex relationship between information, knowledge and wisdom. Her sculpture Bibliovortex denotes a powerful and dynamic representation of knowledge in current context, much akin to the speed of information transfer in this age of cyber-technology. This work has been designated as a showcase exhibit for START.
The Fluid and Fragility of Knowledge
A definition of knowledge and its inferences can be problematic. The term itself leans towards the ‘truth’, conjures superiority, even belief and exhalation as favoured candidates of equal comparison. This is seen in contrast to mere information or ‘data’, in a more current context. However, these notions of knowledge have been contentious, and contested by a multitude of opposing viewpoints.
Within the study of knowledge, high regard has been assigned to that which is derived from sensory experiences, be it observational or through experimentation. John Locke had put forward his view of Empiricism, extending it to introspection of one’s emotion and behaviour. This is not without merit, for education, through books or otherwise, was what he envisaged that shaped a fundamentally empty mind . From the extreme views of Skepticism, reacted against by later Pragmatist views confronting truth and falsehood, the struggle to rationalise what constitutes knowledge continues.
Obviously, justification of the truth cannot lie (sic) far away from the bedrock of scientific discoveries. The Scientific Method is anchored by a conjecture, after which the practitioner needs to prove its worth. Information collected from such experimentations embody data, in which transmission and assimilation becomes consequential much of the time. Beyond this juncture, it is the inference of such information that becomes problematic once again. We can subscribe to scientific evidence and deduce implications based on this, but it may not be universally possible. In reality, our basal instincts and biases render inferences unobjective, and the validity of our deduction is called to question. We are continuously clouded by past experiences and new inputs which formulate beliefs, in a vicious cycle. Can we even do better?
Bertrand Russell, in the spirit of Utilitarianism, had opined that methods of increasing the degree of truth should embody consideration to all views or angles. One can not shy away from being proven wrong by new scientific knowledge, nor should he hold blinded beliefs without the intent to probe deeper for the truth. Perhaps, this is indeed lacking in the current polarised world, amplified by the advent of information technology.
Han A Ram steers within these philosophical boundaries, but taking the occasional stride beyond, in her continual investigation of knowledge concepts and subconsciously traversing bravely into the realm of perceived wisdom. She has chosen water (Everflow) as a poignant unifying medium to begin her explorations. While paying homage to the sanctity of knowledge as a path to wisdom (Crown Of Wisdom), the two may be intertwined to evoke personal moral judgements in this convoluted journey. In fact, parcellations of information has emerged as both an endless vehicle (Infinity, Everflow), as well as a darker rhythmic of disruption (Black Venus) neccesary in the passionate pursuit of knowledge. The eventuality remains uncertain, but it is clear that the ferocity of information transfer has reached an unprecedented trajectory, surpassing what that was ordained as a natural order (Bibliovortex). In this era drowning with social media and artificial intelligence, A Ram would persuade us to give our conscience an equally deserving platform as we navigate a binary monochromatic landscape of data overload.
YL Lo, Chief Curator