Installation view of 《Jae-Eun Choi: Where Beings Be》 ⓒSeoul Museum of Art
The Seoul Museum of Art presents 《Jae-Eun Choi: Where Beings Be》, the artist’s
first solo exhibition at a public art museum in Korea, on view at the Seosomun
Main Branch through April 5.
Jae-Eun Choi has worked across a wide range
of media and disciplines—including sculpture, video, installation, and
architecture—offering a distinctive exploration of the relationship between
life and nature within multilayered temporal and spatial dimensions. The
exhibition 《Jae-Eun Choi: Where Beings Be》 presents an in-depth survey of the artist’s practice, spanning from
her seminal works to her most recent projects.
In particular, the exhibition brings
together key works and new commissions that reflect Choi’s sustained attention
to the invisible outcomes of time and to stratified spatiotemporal structures,
revealing in a multifaceted way her singular perspective on the world and the
evolving trajectory of her artistic thinking.
Installation view of 《Jae-Eun Choi: Where Beings Be》 ⓒSeoul Museum of Art
The title of this exhibition, 《Where Beings Be》, draws on Choi’s notion of
the “pact of co-living” (共生之約)―a concept that gestures
beyond language toward a primordial understanding of coexistence that predates
civilization itself. As the etymological roots of “binding” and “promising”
converge in the characters for “약” (yak) and “속” (sok) in the Korean title, this title evokes an ancient continuum
in which beings have always existed in interwoven, mutually sustaining
relationships.
Encompassing five thematic sections―“Lucy,”
“Tolling Bell,” “Microcosmos,” “Names of the Unseen,” and “Nature Rules: Beyond
Boundaries”― the exhibition additionally presents an extensive archival section
to further contextualize the evolution of Choi’s artistic thinking.
Installation view of 《Interrogative AI》 ©Incheon Art Platform
It strives to evoke the expansive temporal
continuum shared by the earliest members of humankind and people today,
revealing the responsibility humans bear for the destruction of nature and
life. Through bleached coral, the fragile environment of the DMZ, and vanishing
wildflowers, it rekindles the possibility of coexistence and guides viewers
toward the ecological solidarity envisioned by the artist. Amidst the rapidly
changing conditions of our planet, 《Jae-Eun Choi: Where
Beings Be》 asks what kind of life we ought to pursue.
