“Love Your Clean Feet on Thursday” by Young-jun Tak

2024 · color · DE · EN · 20’ · In competition · Swiss premiere

The second film of Young-jun Tak’s choreography film series challenges the conventional binarity of gender through queer male bodies and movements. It juxtaposes the hypermasculinity and hyperfemininity: The former is presented by Spanish Legion soldiers’ spectacular annual Maundy Thursday ritual carrying the life-sized crucifix in Malaga during the Holy Week that leads to the Easter Sunday; and the latter can be found in Kenneth MacMillan’s ballet Manon (1974) where numerous male dancers worship the eponymous female protagonist in Act 2 Scene 1 by constantly lifting up and carrying her in the air. In spite of the two situations’ obvious difference, the glorification of two gender displays surprisingly reveals their similarity, for instance, in the lifted bodies’ open arms. In this regard, a new choreography, inspired by the specific scene of the ballet, was commissioned to choreographer Jamal Callender—including himself as lead dancer—with five other gay male dancers. A few tasks were given to him: Manon should be male; his barefeet should never touch the dirt on the ground; and the choreography should be performed in Berlin’s popular gay cruising forest Grunewald. Throughout this film, the Spanish soldiers’ public ritual and the six male dancers’ choreography alternate while their bodies and movements, exposed to either crowded audience’s eyes on streets or hidden lustful gazes in bushes, try to fill the gap between the polarized gender presentations.

THE DIRECTOR | YOUNG-JUN TAK

Young-jun Tak (born 1989, in Seoul, South Korea), in his practice, examines socio-cultural and psychological mechanisms that shape belief systems. Blurring the lines between media, techniques, and subject matter, he pursues obfuscation as a tool of critique. In his films and sculptures, he often exposes the human body in the context of polarizing norms and conventions. Tak’s recent solo exhibitions include PHILIPPZOLLINGER (Zurich, 2024); COMA (Sydney, 2024); Atelier Hermès (Seoul, 2023); Julia Stoschek Foundation (Berlin, Dusseldorf, 2023); palace enterprise (Copenhagen, 2023); Wanås Konst (Knislinge, 2023); O—Overgaden (Copenhagen, 2023); SOX (Berlin, 2022); Efremidis (Berlin, 2022); and Fragment (Moscow, 2021). He participated in many international group exhibitions, such as, at Skånes konstförening (Malmo, 2024); Capsule (Venice, 2024); High Line (New York, 2023); Chicago Architecture Biennial (2023); Lyon Biennale (2022); Perrotin (Paris, 2022); KINDL Center for Contemporary Art (Berlin, 2022); Berlin Biennale (2020), Seoul Museum of Art, SeMA Bunker (2019); and Istanbul Biennial (2017). Tak studied English Language and Literature as well as Cross-Cultural Studies at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul. He currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany.