Clean Slate

Clean Slate is a short film that describes the falling off of two friends but internally it explores the existential issues about what constructs one's identity.

The narrator of the film is afraid that he might be replaced as a friend, an artist, and a human being if he couldn't claim the individuality that differentiates him from others. He goes on lamenting the fact that he might be a mere "simulacra" of a great being that existed before him. He is afraid that he will become a mimicry or a reductive imitation just like the AI-generated images; images that scrape off centuries of efforts from the great artists and diminish them into a small pixelated image in 30 seconds.

The film is concluded with the narrator embracing his shortcomings by redefining the value of being a reproduction, or in other words a "simulacra". We become ourselves by being a reproduction of a reproduction. No one can be a solely original being but going through numerous trials of mimicking and disintegration we finally get to form our identity.

  • Haerri Kim
    Director
  • Haerri Kim
    Writer
  • Haerri Kim
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Experimental, Student
  • Runtime:
    9 minutes 10 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 30, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    300 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Korea, Republic of
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    3d animation rendered by Blender
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - University of the Arts London
Director - Haerri Kim
Director Statement


My art consists of a collection of visual works that depict the duality of incompatible phenomena. I focus on the ambivalence of the two contrasting urges that I have. One is the urge to erase my traumatic memory, and the other is the desire to preserve/ resurrect it because I simply couldn’t let go of the fact that trauma attributes to my identity.

My recent practice captures contradicting tendencies that are witnessed in relationships. By using symbiotic creatures that combine human body parts and plantations, these personified plants functions as anonymous beings that play out the role of the hypothetic situations. Through drawing, painting, printmaking, and digital fabrications, I attempt to create detailed portrayals that appear realistic yet synthetic at the same time.

I tend to combine several practices that are derived from different cultures and periods to obscure the production period of my works. This lets the viewers detach my identity as an artist from the artwork itself, mitigating the personal experiences and biases from my art.  

The overarching theme of my artwork is presented as a collection of narrative-based films or audio and visual experiments that symbolizes the contradicting urges to preserve and purge my trauma. The collection shows this ambivalence through juxtaposing artworks that show different power dynamics, futile attempts to preserve time, and the formation of synthesis of thesis and antithesis.