In response to the 11th Seoul Mediacity Biennale —conceived as a proposal to reimagine escapism as a tool to navigate our fragmented realities—, Cuevas directs our attention toward new environ- ments and recreates a traditional Korean landscape as a pixelated image that provides an account of our representations of the natural world in the digi- tal environment. The small can of SPAM in the lower right-hand corner is an element that takes us back to the Korean War when the U.S. military introduced this canned meat, which is very popular among the population to this day. By portraying Yim Soon-rye—a South Korean filmmaker considered one of the few leading female auteurs of Korean New Wave cinema—as a central figure, Cuevas connects us with the struggle for ani- mal rights and feminism.
Installation view: One Escape at a Time, 11th Seoul Mediacity Biennale, Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA), 2021. Photo: Cheolki Hong, glimworkers. Courtesy of kurimanzutto, Mexico City / New York, and Seoul Museum of Art.