38th Parallel, video still, South Korean ROK Soldier, Joint Security Area, Camp Boniface, Panmunjom.

38th Parallel
South Korea, 2008

For the video installation 38th Parallel, a commission, shot on location at the Korean Demilitarized Zone early last
year, Davies worked with the United Nations Armistice Commission and the United States Armed Forces in Korea. Describing the work, Jan Verwoert, curator ‘Art Sheffield 08 Yes No Other Options’ writes:

Filmed at the Demilitarized Zone on the border between North and South Korea, the work ‘38th Parallel’ seeks to portray the particular reality of this contested site. It is a reality marked by an eerie sense of latency. Constantly alert, constantly inert, North and South face each other in a stalemate situation sealed by a cease fire agreement 55 years ago.

Ever since then the heavy military presence on both sides of the Demilitarized Zone persists, turning the Zone into a symbol for the irresolvable conflict between two political systems that splits the country and haunts its citizens. In the sense George Bush described it in dramatic words as “The line dividing freedom and oppression and one of the most dangerous places on earth”.
In actuality, however, the Demilitarized Zone is a no-mans land where nothing happens, because it is there to prevent things from happening. The Zone exists in a constants state of suspense. It is a geopolitical void.

In her video, Davies operates in this void. She shows how political reality manifests itself here, beyond representation, in the ways how space is structured and time is regimented in this militarized environment. Facing each other across the turnpike, for instance, border guards of both sides execute the silent ceremonies of authority proscribed by their military protocol. It’s choreography of empty gestures enacted on the stage of a deserted strip of land and bleak interrogation rooms. Davies then shows the local epicentre of conflict of global proportions to be a non-place where power manifests itself in ghostly acts of decorum performed in suspended time.

Extract form Art Sheffield 08 Yes No Other Options* catalogue, written by Jan Verwoert.

38th Parallel, video still

North Korean KPA Soldier, Joint Security Area, Camp Boniface, Panmunjom.

38th Parallel, video still

The Demarcation Line, Joint Security Area, South Korean side, Camp Boniface,
Panmunjom.

38th Parallel, video still

Lieutenant Commander Christopher Dignan of the United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission, Panmunjom.

“During Armastice talks, North Korea desired a return of all territory North of the 38th Parallel where they began the war. Since the battle line continued up and across the country, and due to continuing operations by the UN Command, North Korea eventually accepted this blue line as the Military Demarcation Line and that was roughly the centre point for the forces that were engaged in fighting throughout that time period.
Once the line was agreed to both sides had 72 hours to withdraw 2 kilometres either side of that line. One that was completed that set up the 4 kilometre wide, 241 kilometre long Demilitarized Zone, which runs from coast to coast.” 

Extract from an interview with Lieutenant Commander Christopher Dignan of the United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission recorded at Camp Boniface, Panmunjom.

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