Today it might be called “revolution impossible.” Since “the end of history” in 1989, a wave of neoliberalism has engulfed us with the declaration that real socialism had failed and that capitalism was the manifest destiny of humankind. This confidence was summarily demolished in the 2008 financial crash. No new social system and values have since been proposed. The populace shows irritability and antipathy toward the existing politics of “there is no alternative” and the phenomenon of extreme right populism is returning again.

      However, it is also an era in which the term “revolution” is overused. In the confusion of values and prospects, the change of regime is called 'revolution' regardless of whether it represents a fundamental systemic change or simply a “changing of the guard”. Even the term “revolution” is commonly used as a means of seducing the public for marketing or to foment nationalism. It is an era where we need to ask "what is the revolution?" before we ask whether revolution is possible.

      Started in 2007, Sound Effects Seoul, the Seoul International Sound Art Festival has been exploring artistic reflections on contemporary life through listening. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Sound Effects Seoul 2017 aims to aims to open up the concept "revolution" through the explorations of its sounds. Revolutionary events have a special excited auditory profile, full of shouting and chanting, songs and speeches, in the streets and in the distance.

      In Korea, political discourse around the notion of revolution is centered on the men who are called the '86', a generation that currently has vested rights. This exhibition focuses on the artists of later generations in Korea. It is a generation which confronts the patriarchy and violence of the democracy movement and diverges from what has become a hackneyed touchstone of protest culture in Korea. They speak of a revolution within, a silent revolution. SFX Seoul 2017 presents artistic responses to changes such as the Egyptian Revolution in 2011, the Gezi Revolution in Turkey in 2013 and also the dramatic protests and democratic revolution in Korea earlier this year. SFX Seoul2017 will also present works which reflect on the transforming and essential roles of women, gender and class in a digitalized society. 

      The title of the exhibition The Revolution Will Not Be Televised is the song title of 1970’s American poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron. This song is a pioneering work of political rap that criticizes the contradictions and hypocrisy in American society hidden by the mass media and commercial culture. The same problem is evident today in Korea and around the world. On the internet, the struggle to generate and define political narratives is a new domain of statecraft and even warfare. It is time to start thinking about radically revaluating our values.

      The year 2017 marks the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution of 1917. Acknowledging its difficulties and its troubled legacy, the Russian Revolution was for a futuristic, scientific, technological revolution, a deeply modern and humanist vision for a better future for all humanity. A number of revolutions in the past 100 years have dreamed of a better life, more just society and better prospects in every part of the world, burning with the emancipatory fire of the Russian Revolution. Each of these revolutions, in their struggle to improve the lives of their populations, have sent shock waves through the world which still fundamentally influence our aspirations today. If we listen closely, we can still hear the echoes of those times of intense political engagement and hope mingling with the approaching roar of the next revolutions.

      Revolution begins with human voice. SFX 10th anniversary festival will feature a rich spoken word program with artist talks, political discussions and spoken word and poetry, and speculative performances. Come experience “The Revolution will not be Televised” where the atmosphere is buzzing with the anxiousness and excitement of imminent revolution.

Baruch Gottlieb and Ji Yoon Yang