Solo exhibition at Kukje Gallery Busan through July 20, 2025 - Concurrent solo exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum, U.S.

Korean media artist Yeondoo Jung presents a solo exhibition titled 《The Inevitable, Inacceptable》 at Kukje Gallery Busan, marking his first solo show at the gallery in 17 years and a major return to the city with a new body of work.

Known for transforming fragments of everyday life into poetic narratives through photography, video, installation, and sound, Jung continues to explore the imperfect balance of life with wit and compassion.
 
This exhibition builds on two seemingly unrelated yet deeply resonant motifs—blues music and the rhythms of fermentation—to deliver a humorous yet tender reflection on the unpredictable realities of life. The gallery space reverberates with blues melodies, while photographs of fermenting meju blocks populated by bacillus bacteria coexist in a strange but meaningful harmony. As Jung notes, “It’s not rotting—it’s fermenting and coming to life,” turning microbial processes into metaphors for resilience and polyphonic rhythm.


 
Unavoidable Blues: Improvised Resonance Across Time and Space

The exhibition’s centerpiece is Unavoidable Blues (2025), an experimental video installation that features five musicians—vocal, contrabass, saxophone, organ, and drums—recorded separately in different parts of the world. Each musician was given only a tempo of 67 bpm and a basic chord structure, allowing them to improvise based on their own life rhythms. The resulting loose ensemble offers a narrative rhythm that is neither perfect nor polished, but deeply human.
 
The visuals of dough rising, bubbles forming in makgeolli, and the glimmer of light in traditional jars are translated into a sensory rhythm that connects with the gestures and breathing of the performers. The work functions as a metaphorical device for the improvisational and unpredictable nature of life—real yet abstract.

Portraits of Bacillus: Daily Life as a Microcosmic Cosmos

Jung also presents ‘Portraits of Bacillus’, a photographic series capturing the bacillus bacteria blooming during the fermentation of meju. The foamy forms appear like goblin faces—biological and metaphorical at once—revealing invisible forces, similarity in difference, and the mystery of life with humor and accessibility.

Alongside these works are cosmic images created by scattering flour on black marble. The accidental arrangements resemble galaxies and star clusters. These pieces—cultivated over time with a yeast strain named “Samuel”—symbolize creation, mystery, and the transformative nature of fermentation as art.
 


Blues from the Korean Diaspora: Layered Temporal Geographies

Another pillar of the show is a blues piece based on interviews with descendants of Koryo-saram, ethnic Koreans living in Ansan, South Korea. Their stories were transcribed in Russian on batik fabric and voiced by singer Ha Heon-jin in a blues rhythm. Emerging from multilayered cultural contexts—Korea, Indonesia, and Russia—this piece delivers a quietly powerful message: Life continues.

The sound, gestures, and visuals—such as scattering flour or fermenting rice wine—intertwine to form a polyphonic rhythm that unifies the entire exhibition.

Across the Ocean: Syncopated Memories at the Peabody Essex Museum
 
In parallel with the Busan exhibition, Jung is also presenting a solo show at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. Inspired by a letter written by Yu Kil-chun, a notable Korean reformer, on his return voyage from the U.S., Jung's new work Syncopation #15 rhythmically translates Yu’s emotional turbulence and flowing penmanship into a metaphorical interplay of dissonance and harmony across time.
 
Also featured is Evergreen Tower, Jung’s celebrated slide series previously acquired by the Joy of Giving Something Foundation and later donated to MoMA. Its inclusion reconnects the museum with Jung’s broader oeuvre.

Humor, Empathy, and Physical Practice

Born in 1969, Yeondoo Jung studied sculpture at Seoul National University and at Goldsmiths, University of London. He was named Artist of the Year by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in 2007, and his work was acquired by MoMA in 2008. His artistic practice is deeply physical and research-driven—he has grown sugarcane, learned ballroom dance, and fermented ingredients to inform his work. His pieces are playful, yet never superficial.
 
In 《The Inevitable, Inacceptable》, Jung invites viewers into a complex rhythm of life: musical, fermented, humorous, and resilient. “Life doesn’t go as planned, but somehow, it continues.” This exhibition records the rhythm of that persistence and grace.
 
The exhibition is on view through July 20, 2025, at Kukje Gallery Busan, located within F1963 in Suyeong-gu, Busan.

References

• 국제갤러리 (Kukje Gallery)
• Peabody Essex Museum