Billboards lit from the inside brighten up the city. On its surface, a roll of several posters keeps rotating to catch the eyes of passer-by’s with its advertisements of services and products. From 15 – 21 February 2022, artist Youngeun Sohn will take over one of the billboards in the centre of Amsterdam. The advertisement device at the intersection of the Amstelstraat and the Blauwbrug, will showcase images generated through her project CCTV Catwalk (a.k.a. Growing Pains). For one week, day and night Youngeun will be part of the cityscape – presenting snippets of a self-organised fashion show that has been registered fully through the all-seeing-eyes of CCTV systems in Youngeun’s hometown of Bucheon, South Korea. Over the New Year holidays in 2021, Youngeun initiated a solo fashion show there, at her father’s office building wearing her father’s clothing.

Through this intervention, Youngeun hopes to regain some agency in a highly mediatised environment, and resist the daily bombardment of advertisements on our city streets.

On Saturday February 19th at 7 pm Youngeun will stand in front of her billboard to give a short reading performance. The performance is open to visitors and also can be followed through a livestream via the Warehouse | A Place for Clothes In Context Instagram account. Follow @amsterdam.warehouse for updates.

This performance is part of Youngeun Sohn’s project Occupying Monitors in Amsterdam and is set up in collaboration with the independent fashion magazine Press & Fold | Notes on making and doing fashion. Their new issue, on the topic of resistance, will launch in May 2022, which includes Youngeun Sohn’s contribution CCTV Catwalk (a.k.a. Growing Pains).

Youngeun Sohn is supported by Arts Council Korea. Press & Fold | Notes on making and doing fashion is supported by the Creative Industries Fund.