Installation view of
《DARAK: Memory, Cloud, Mirage》 © Perigee GalleryPerigee Gallery presents a solo exhibition 《DARAK: Memory, Cloud, Mirage》 by artist
YeSeung LEE, through November 29.
YeSeung LEE has been engaged in a variety
of endeavors involving digital media and a range of technologies, including,
but not limited to, VR, AR, 3D printers, and AI. In the exhibition 《DARAK: Memory, Cloud, Mirage》, visitors are
invited to take a thread placed at the entrance and step into a space
partitioned by curtains.
The title “Darak” refers to the attic-like
storage space found in traditional Korean houses. Standing before this
unfamiliar and often overlooked place sparks curiosity, and the very act of
stepping into the unknown stirs up complex emotions—tremor and fear, excitement
and anticipation—that accompany adventure. Once one returns to the realm of the
familiar and time passes, the experience sinks into the depths as fragments of
memory.
For the artist, Darak is a space of both
reality and unreality—an immaterial site where sensory experiences emerge
through movement and encounter, and where traces are left behind.
Installation view of 《DARAK: Memory, Cloud, Mirage》 © Perigee Gallery
Through the installations hidden behind the
curtains, the artist hopes that each viewer’s latent memories will be
transformed into new perceptions the moment they come into contact with the
work. In this exhibition, opening and closing curtains, ascending and
descending stairs, sitting in the space to read, or quietly contemplating the
entire exhibition all become gestures through which memory and sensation can be
observed.
The artist believes in the potential of
personal experiences and memories that emerge through sensory encounters and
conceptual reflection. Furthermore, the focus lies in cultivating an attitude
of balance at the point where objectively accumulated information and
subjectively embodied experiences intersect.
Installation view of 《DARAK: Memory, Cloud, Mirage》 © Perigee Gallery
To this end, the exhibition space has been
composed not only of the material modes of existence—form, density, and
movement—but also of light, color, and air, evoking an atmosphere that is both
dynamic and still. This embodies the artist’s intention to allow the mirage, an
illusion, to remain as a new reality that continually exists, encouraging
viewers to slowly sense and reflect upon the distance between things.
Through this exhibition, YeSeung LEE seeks
to move beyond the boundary between reality and unreality, weaving together a
virtual that can be shared and a reality that cannot, thereby opening up the
possibilities of forms and textures that gradually emerge. For the artist,
thought itself is like the thread placed in our hands—delaying resolution,
refusing to lean toward either reality or unreality, and compelling us to keep
questioning this very moment.
