Kumho Museum of Art presents an exhibition 《2026 KUMHO YOUNG ARTIST Part. 1》 on view through April 12. The “KUMHO YOUNG ARTIST” program has supported solo exhibitions for emerging artists since its first open call in 2004, selecting a total of 107 young artists to date.

The artists selected for the 23rd KUMHO YOUNG ARTIST program are Gang Donghoon, Moon Joohye, Park Hyunjin, Seo Wonmi, Jung Soojung, and Choi Jiwon. The exhibition will be presented in two parts: Part 1 (March 6–April 12) will feature solo exhibitions by Gang Donghoon, Moon Joohye, and Seo Wonmi, while Part 2 (April 24–May 31) will present solo exhibitions by Park Hyunjin, Jung Soojung, and Choi Jiwon.

Moon Joohye, 《Crosshair +++》

Moon Joohye (b. 1995) focuses on the sensory layers that images evoke beyond the cultural codes and concepts embedded within them. She observes that religious painting and the world-building of video games share homologous structures in the ways images convey particular narratives, and she works to dismantle the hierarchies and iconographic grammars inherent in images. The artist rearranges iconographic motifs containing mythological messages or narratives into forms that float across the picture plane, producing unfamiliar scenes detached from their original contexts.

Such compositions generate visual effects reminiscent of abnormal movements or glitches in video games, temporarily deactivating the contexts previously assigned to each image. In doing so, viewers become aware of the gap between the way images function as signs and the realm of sensation that resists reduction to fixed meanings, experiencing a moment in which familiar symbolic systems begin to waver.

Gang Donghoon, 《Triglossia》

Gang Donghoon (b. 1992) is an artist, composer, and researcher based in Germany and Korea. Through works that traverse visual and auditory media, he has explored hybrid and alternative modes of expression. In this exhibition, he focuses in particular on the role of auditory media in psychological warfare and propaganda surrounding war and ideology, drawing on his research into modern and contemporary Korean music history.

Against the backdrop of a turbulent period during the Japanese colonial era—when multiple ideologies intersected under colonial rule—he produces a fictional radio drama, which is presented as a sound installation.

The exhibition space is composed of radio artifacts and multichannel audio, where the resulting hybrid soundscape condenses the political tensions and conflicts of the time. By revealing the conditions under which sound has functioned as a tool of governance and mobilization, the artist expands the formal possibilities of auditory media as an invisible yet sculptural medium.

Seo Wonmi, 《Grand Theater》

Seo Wonmi (b. 1990) explores personal narratives and historical events through paintings that move between abstraction and figuration. Her practice centers on confronting fundamental emotions such as death, anxiety, and trauma, developing from personal experiences into works that expand toward broader social and historical contexts. In this exhibition, she presents works situated in a process of turning inward once again after this outward expansion.

The exhibition is structured around two stages: “Day” and “Night.” While the stage of Day reveals the forms of events unfolding in the external world, the stage of Night represents the psychological landscape of the artist as she returns to her inner world. These two stages function as two sides of the same day and as a structure in which the outer and inner worlds intersect, reflecting the artist’s shift in attitude from an emphasis on “events” to an emphasis on “sensation.”

The tension produced by these different temporalities and sensibilities invites viewers to reflect on the process through which accumulated narratives gradually seep into the realm of sensation.

Participating Artists: Gang Donghoon, Moon Joohye, Seo Wonmi

“2026 KUMHO YOUNG ARTIST Part. 1”
2026.03.06 - 2026.04.12
Tue-Sun 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Kumho Museum of Art
18, Samcheong-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, Korea