Poster image of “The Force of Things” ©Space ISUSpace ISU presents a group exhibition “The
Force of Things” on view through April 25. “The Force of Things” offers an
intriguing glimpse into the work of ten artists who navigate the boundary
between art and non-art through everyday “objects.”
While commonplace and familiar in our daily
lives, these featured objects are rendered unfamiliar, given entirely new lives
through the artists’ subversive imaginations. Not fully belonging to either the
realm of objects or that of pure art, these exhibits oscillate between the two,
baffling us. They prompt us to consider new languages and alternative grammars,
urging us to continuously reestablish our relationship with things.
Do Ho Suh,
Uni-Form/s: Self-Portrait/s: My 39 Years, 2006 ©Do Ho SuhThe protagonists of this exhibition are
diverse objects. They include smooth linoleum (Seoyoung Chung, -Awe),
a stacked pile of A4 papers (Yiso Bahc, Sculpture for A4),
sundries such as a humidifying basin, sponge, and cloth (Jewyo Rhii, Humidifiers),
uniforms worn at different life stages (Do Ho Suh, Uni-Form/s:
Self-Portrait/s: My 39 Years), a projector casting images on the
gallery wall (Jina Park, Projector Test), a light
illuminating the darkness (Yooyun Yang, From Early Evening),
a net shaped like a pot that can contain nothing (Jung Kwang Ho, The
Pot), a food-warming microwave (Bertrand Lavier, FM 400),
two paper clay chickens (Kim Beom, 12 Sculptural Recipes—#6, #7),
and a long, soft carpet spread out (Minouk Lim, Aladdin_Interchange).
Minouk Lim,
Aladdin_Interchange, 2008 ©Minouk Lim. Photo: BAK HyonjinThe “force of things” that this exhibition
aims to convey is perhaps the force that, for artists, ignites their
imaginations to question “what is art?” amidst the boundaries between art and
non-art; for viewers, it encourages looking anew at the mundane details
surrounding them and inspires a different approach to life.
In today’s world, where information
dominates our lives rather than something with tangible presence, “The Force of
Things” seeks to delicately recognize things—our lifelong companions, recover
their forgotten forces, and continue to live with them.
Participating Artists: Kim Beom, Yiso Bahc, Jina Park, Bertrand Lavier, Do Ho Suh, Yooyun
Yang, Jewyo Rhii, Minouk Lim, Jung Kwang Ho, Seoyoung Chung
Ji Yeon Lee has been working as an editor for the media art and culture channel AliceOn since 2021 and worked as an exhibition coordinator at samuso (now Space for Contemporary Art) from 2021 to 2023.
