Only the press release remains (2003)

Amidst a rather controversial "fire-based performance", the conceptual art song remains the same.

Kim Min Su (Editor of Art Design Publicity)
Art Design Publicity at ADC | 4 January 2010


When the levee breaks by Led Zeppelin.



CCNOA Brussels Kim Min Su

Burnout: In the Name of Love
A performance-interactive installation by Kim Min Su
Center for Contemporary Non-Objective Art [CCNOA], Brussels
5 May – 15 May 2003 [Performance, 5 May, 10.00 PM]

Press and Public Information Release

CCNOA proudly presents the solo intervention Burnout: In the Name of Love (2003) by Korean-born conceptual artist Kim Min Su (b. 1966). For this special exhibition, Kim will set fire to the art centre in order to cleanse and purify the space. Fluidly transforming an “end” into a “beginning”, Kim intends to saturate CCNOA with Love via the flames to successfully initiate the center’s new-and-improved exhibition focus: from now on, not only contemporary non-objective art will be on view, but also architecture shows. After the performance, the center will then only be officially known as CCNOA art + architecture.

In order to adhere to safety precautions meeting strict Belgian standards, only 20 guests— comprised of Belgian and international TV and print media journalists— have been invited to attend the performance. For this event, Kim will provide clothing instructions (only black) and schedule required appointments with avant-garde hair designer Tutsi de Bruxelles. The intention is “to create a minimalist canvas of black and red inside CCNOA’s white cube space, almost like a 3-D Mondriaan design,” says Kim. “After lighting the match, the fire will follow a line of lighter fluid— replicating the lines on a magnified Jackson Pollock painting. We’ll then be forced to leave via fire escapes on opposite ends of the centre, and the process of architectural purification will begin.”

Outside CCNOA in an adjacent plaza, a large-scale projection of the interior will be cast upon CCNOA’s building exterior for the public to witness the event taking place inside. Upon the journalist-participants descent on the fire escapes which flank the projected image, a “genetically manipulated” version of the classic U2 track— adapted to the specific CCNOA context— will be played for the audience to sing, as a karaoke-style text scrolls across the projection.

According to CCNOA Director Petra Bungert, “While this is challenging work, we are committed to providing a platform for key developments in non-objective art and that expanding world discourse.” After the intervention, art visitors will be invited to climb the fire escapes into the art temple / urban triptych and examine the fiery results. “I want viewers to smell, touch, hug, taste— and even kiss— the architectural purity, via the charred remains of the interior installation,” says Kim. “For us to all to come together, to dream together, to love each other— in the new CCNOA art + architecture centre.”

About the artist Kim Min Su
Born next to a Buddhist temple on a mountaintop overlooking the ancient capital Kyongju in South Korea, Kim Min Su studied philosophy, world religions and fine art at the Pusan Institute - Yong-do. Previously, Kim has exhibited interventions at art galleries and centers in South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Australia, Canada and the United States. He has also exhibited art “between continents” on a barge “travelling to nowhere” in the southern hemisphere (1999-). This will be his first exhibition in Europe. He resides in Kyongju and New York City.

© 2003 Kim Min Su, press release / artwork