Exploring the Space beneath the Surface: “Space Lag”, a Solo Exhibition by Leekyung Kang.. and More
GOP(Graphite on Pink) Factory
Exploring the Space beneath the Surface: “Space Lag”, a Solo Exhibition by Leekyung Kang
From July 1 to 22, GOP Factory, run by contemporary art publishing and project organization Graphite on Pink, showcases Space Lag, a solo exhibition by Leekyung Kang. Leekyung Kang focuses on urban space, exploring the exterior surfaces and interior infrastructure of the cities. This interest is connected to digitized urban images. The artist pays attention to the hidden spaces that can be found beneath digitized urban images and tries to reach them through painting, printmaking, and installation.
This exhibition is also inspired by the artist’s experience with glitches in her phone’s navigation system. The images, some of which were missing due to glitches, resembled images of natural disasters. It deepened the artist’s exploration of the in-between world of dimensions. Paintings such as <Windy vibe> (2023) and <Ongoing Up-ending> (2023) utilize fragmented images that remind us of glitches. The video installation at the center randomly plays images from the paintings. The sounds that resonate in the exhibition space are based on the Buddhist temple bell. Recalling the Buddhist practice of striking a bell before prayer to create a connection to the underworld, the exhibition extends the idea of the in-between through the sound of the bell.
The exhibition will be an opportunity for viewers to see the artist’s work, which deals with the concept of time and space in the in-between.
Ooooon
Two Ways Artist Exist, Books and Exhibitions: The Exhibition “The Four Editors”
Ooooon presents The Four Editors by Hyeonah Goh, Haneul Park, and Hyobeom Park. The exhibition talks about books and exhibitions as a way for artists to exist.
The exhibition is organized by referencing the contents, editorial methods, and physical forms of books. The exhibition space is composed of sketches suspended in the air that resemble the pages of a book, massive structures that remind us of book covers, and floor installations that simulate the appearance of an open book. Also, a series of dialogic styles exhibition prefaces, similar to a play, line the bottom of the left and right walls of the space. The artists in the exhibition are exploring traditional materials such as ink, Soonji, and Jangji (Korean paper), as well as the legacy of the past.
On the opening night, July 5, from 7 to 8 p.m., and on the closing night, July 30, from 9 to 10 p.m., the editors will read fiction, poetry, or other text at the four corners of the exhibition space. The curator, Hyeongshin Yeun, and the three writers, whose boundaries were blurred through collaboration, are all named editors, like the title of the exhibition The Four Editors.
Through the juxtaposition of the language of the book and the language of the exhibition, The Four Editors explores the concepts of exhibition, curator, and artist.
Artspace Boan
“HMS Challenger” an Exhibition by Heemin Son Exploring Marine Ecosystems through Sculpture, and “Popular Creatures” by Unmake Lab that draws Allegories in the Contemporary World
From July 5 to 23, Artspace Boan is pleased to present HMS Challenger, a solo exhibition by Heemin Son (b.1992), and Popular Creatures by Unmake Lab.
Heemin Son has been visualizing ontological questions about organism based on biology and physics. She especially has used sculpture to explore the concept of organisms, its properties and forms, and ecological changes. The title of the exhibition ‘HMS Challenger’ is named after HMS Challenger, the name of the exploration ship that established the foundations of oceanography. In this exhibition, the artist investigates the ecosystems of the ocean, from the microscopic animals of the modern ocean to extinct animals and plants that existed in ancient times of the primordial sea. By creating more than 20 biological sculptures, the artist hopes to engage with her own questions about organisms.
Unmake Lab deals with the perception of machines through irony, allegory, and humor. This exhibition juxtaposes the predictability of artificial intelligence with the disastrous site of the ‘burnt mountain’. It also uses the fable tradition of satirizing humans through animals to tell the story of mechanical action. For example, the exhibition uses the form of spodomancy, which involves divination through ashes or burned objects, to oracularly depict artificial intelligence inscribing meaningless language on burned wood. In this way, it uses various technologies as critical observation techniques for ecological crises to raise questions in our time.
Two exhibitions at Artspace Boan show the artists’ awareness of biology, ecology, and contemporary mechanical work.
AlterSide
“New Hermits”, an Exhibition Exploring the Seclusion Across the Ages
New Hermits by Jipyeong Kim, Hyunjin Kim,Hwan Lee, 99betaHUD, and dpgp78 are view on at AlterSide from June 30 to July 28. AlterSide is an exhibition space and video production company that opened in 2020 and explores the concept of alternative space by pursuing alternative curating and infrastructure.
The exhibition examines both the concept of ‘seclusion’ in the works of 14th-century Chinese artist Ni Zan(倪瓚, 1301~1374) and 1980s goth rock, finding similarities between the two in their emphasis on negativity and absence. It connects this sense of absence to the sense of disconnection and contactless we have experienced during the pandemic. In the window of the exhibition space, dpgp78’s < Korea is good > (2023), an installation in the form of a large curtain, is displayed. The drawings on the curtain were created by team members Jihwan Kim and Sungsig Min, who took turns drawing without communicating with each other, reinforcing the separation between the space outside the curtain and the space inside. Also, Hyunjin Kim mixes various icons and figures in paintings to create a space that is difficult to distinguish between dream and reality, while Jipyeong Kim visualizes gothic novel characters and goth rock female vocalists in the form of folding screens and hanging scrolls. In addition, Hwan Lee and 99betaHUD (Yelim Ki, Jihyoung Han) will present paintings and video works that address distance from personal and social reality, respectively.
Calling those of us who experienced disconnection and absence during the pandemic “New Hermits”, the exhibition allows us to understand that time once again by presenting the absence actively.
