Byungjun Kwon (b. 1971) began his artistic career in the 1990s by forming a music band and entering the world of popular music. In the mid-2000s, he worked as a hardware engineer at STEIM (Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music), a Dutch institution dedicated to electronic instrument research and development. Currently, he is active as a media artist, presenting new media performances that incorporate various technologies.

In his work, "sound" and "robots" frequently appear as key elements, not only on a technical level but also as mediums that reflect contemporary Korean society from the artist's perspective, engaging with the audience in this context.

In 2011, after returning to Korea following his research on electronic instruments, Kwon began to explore the expansion of sound. He no longer limited sound to an auditory element but experimented with expanding sound into various dimensions of sensory experience, exploring the interplay of sound transitions and rhythms through diverse sensory orchestrations.

As part of these experiments, Kwon began planning performance art, expanding his sound devices beyond mere instruments to include various mechanisms within the stage environment. In his audiovisual performance This is me (2013), commissioned by the Nam June Paik Art Center, Kwon used himself as the medium.

Various sounds layered and filled the space, while his face became a screen, projecting images of figures like Marilyn Monroe, George Bush, and Nam June Paik, until his own face was completely erased, as if he was wearing a mask.

In a continuation of his work that integrates his body with other media on stage, Byungjun Kwon presented Another Moon Another Life (2014) the following year. This piece featured an intricate fusion of advanced technological devices, such as holograms, alongside natural phenomena like water, wind, steam, light, and sound, creating a synesthetic environment that formed a mysterious harmony.

Kwon, along with other performers, positioned themselves within this complex environment, floating freely within the field of sound. During the performance, steam emitted from the machines replaced the artist's face, and the performers did not stand out as central figures but existed as one of the many elements contributing to the transition and expansion of sound.

Another Moon Another Life was later reinterpreted nearly ten years later in Kwon's new work A Robot Crossing a Single Line Bridge for the 2023 MMCA "Korea Artist Prize" exhibition. In this reimagined work, it is not the artist but a robot that crosses the line bridge and performs.

With the presence of the robot, elements that might seem incompatible—technology and nature, virtual and real, inside and outside, chance and planning—combine to create an even more unfamiliar and uncanny scene, prompting the audience to imagine a new world beyond existing boundaries.

In 2017, Kwon began creating robots as fictional strangers, inspired by his encounter with South Korean society's exclusionary attitudes toward Yemeni refugees arriving in Jeju. He developed one-armed robots named "GF (Golden Flower)" that reached out their hands to people.

Some reacted with fear, others saw them as beggars, and still others grasped their cold hands. Kwon believed that these one-armed robots, as unfamiliar and outsider-like figures, revealed people's values and inner thoughts when confronted by such an alien presence.

The 'GF' robots are half-formed beings, with only one arm each. However, they shine light toward one another, casting shadows, and when these two shadows meet, they finally form a complete two-armed robot. Through this imagery, we can imagine the possibilities of solidarity, communication, and coexistence within human society.

Unlike ordinary robots that are created for specific purposes, Kwon’s robots serve no practical function. Instead, they perform seemingly purposeless actions such as fan dancing, doing five-limbed prostration, or doing the wall meditation/practice. These performances, devoid of utility and functionality, act as a kind of satire on modern society, where value is determined by usefulness within the logic of capitalism.

Another of Kwon’s works that invites reflection on society through the expansion of sound is the Forest of Subtle Truth series. First introduced at the 2017 Arko Art Center sound art group exhibition “Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” Forest of Subtle Truth uses location-aware headphones, allowing the audience to walk around and move, engaging in a kind of 'sound walk' that encourages interaction with various sounds.

The following year, Kwon participated in the 10th Seoul Mediacity Biennale, where he presented the second work in the series, Forest of Subtle Truth 2 (2018), featuring sounds recorded from Yemeni refugees in Jeju. As participants wearing the location-aware headphones walked through the space, they encountered sounds that evoked the refugees’ fears and anxieties—from the rumble of thunder reminiscent of war to their songs.

From 2017 to 2019, the Forest of Subtle Truth series collected and shared the sounds of various marginalized groups in Korea, including the sounds of multicultural families in Hongseong and the soundscapes of Gyodong Island near North Korea.

In 2022, Kwon expanded his sound walks further with From Cheongju to Kyiv, presented at the “MMCA Cheongju Project 2022: Urban Resonance” exhibition. Using RTK (Real-Time Kinematic) technology based on GPS, Kwon created a more immersive auditory augmented reality than his previous works, which used LPS (Local Positioning System) technology.

This work was born from Kwon's observation of the Korean public’s indifference toward the war in Ukraine following the Russian invasion in 2022. Kwon observed how tragedies occurring outside one’s immediate environment gradually fade from individual memory and become "othered" over time. In response, he sought to use sound to remind people of these forgotten realities.

He recorded both peaceful sounds from Ukraine’s past and unsettling, anxiety-inducing sounds from everyday environments—such as the sound of wood being broken in a sawmill or the destructive noise of a Korean redevelopment site.

The contrast between Ukraine’s peaceful past and its current war-torn reality was amplified through these sounds, transferring the anxiety and fear experienced by the Ukrainian people to the sensory experience of the audience.

Through his work, Byungjun Kwon explores how we might live together with others and how we might move forward. In doing so, he uses technology in a way that subverts the logic of capitalism, highlighting its role as a medium that reflects both society and the individual. His works encourage empathy and understanding, leading us to imagine a community of solidarity.

”We are all strangers.”

Byungjun Kwon started his musical career as a singer-songwriter in the early 1990s, and released six albums covering the minimalist house from Alternative Rock. Since 2000, he expanded his practice to movie soundtracks, fashion shows, dance, theater, and Korean traditional music. After living in the Netherlands and working as a hardware engineer at STEIM, he returned to Korea in 2011, where he continues to work as a media artist.

Starting with his first solo exhibition, “A little one to have all” (LIG Art hall, Seoul) in 2010, Kwon has held solo shows at various venues including Alternative Space LOOP (Seoul, 2018), Platform L (Seoul, 2020), and Busan Museum of Art (Busan, 2021). He has also participated in numerous group exhibitions at major institutions such as the 10th Seoul Mediacity Biennale, Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul), Ilmin Museum of Art (Seoul), Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art (Japan), and Arko Art Center (Seoul). Last year, he was named the winner of the “2023 Korea Artist Prize,” co-hosted by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) and SBS Foundation.

References

• 권병준, Byungjun Kwon (Artist Website)
• 올해의 작가상, 권병준 (Korea Artist Prize, Byungjun Kwon)
• 백남준아트센터, 백남준 추모 8주기 행사
• 아르떼, 편집위원이 만나다⑥ 권병준 미디어 아티스트 <예술과 기술의 최전선에서 공명하는 따뜻한 소리>, 2020.06.24