SeMA Storage in Eunpyeong, Emerging Artist Exhibition Support Program
An exhibition that examines media by expanding it into the realm of the environment
The Seoul Museum of Art (Director Baik Jisook) presents curator Lee So-ra's <Ground X> as the first exhibition of its 2021 Emerging Artist Exhibition Support Program, on view through May 23 at SeMA Storage (located within Seoul Innovation Park, Eunpyeong-gu).
The Emerging Artist Exhibition Support Program is a program through which the Seoul Museum of Art has, since 2008, supported talented emerging artists and curators in their artistic activities by covering various exhibition-related costs and providing consulting and matching services.
In 2021, following document screening and interviews, a total of nine emerging artists—seven artists and two curators—were selected. Their exhibitions will be presented sequentially from May through October at the Seoul Museum of Art's branch venues, including SeMA Storage and SeMA Bunker, beginning with <Ground X>.
<Ground X> expands media into the concept of the environment through virtual space, artificial intelligence (AI), science fiction (SF) films, installation works, and more, and calls on us to rethink the present day, in which technological development and the destruction of nature are proceeding simultaneously.
Media is establishing itself as our new environment and, like the environment that serves as the habitat of nature, is intertwined with our lives. This exhibition seeks out the interaction between nature and media and expands media into the realm of an environment that helps humans sustain their lives.
This exhibition features artists Kim Won-hwa, Lee Su-jin, and Jeon Mi-rae, who present the natural environment that is the foundation of life, the media environment that supports the world of bits, and the habitat—in a broad sense—that floats in the space in between.
Artist Kim Won-hwa expands reality by 3D-scanning her personal studio and converting it into a virtual space, unfolding a new habitat through the perspective of drifting between virtual space and AI.
Artist Lee Su-jin, through science fiction films and object works incorporating photography, performance, and narration, shows spaces where natural elements have been pushed aside by humans and have become refuges for wild animals and microorganisms. In doing so, she presents a diverse array of spaces that traverse the real world, the loss of values in modern society, and a surreal in-between world.
Artist Jeon Mi-rae, through installation works, varies diverse senses of rhythm with the forms of land that soar toward the ceiling or settle onto the floor. Seven waves, large and small, visualize the in-between space that could not be put into words.
SeMA Storage of the Seoul Museum of Art can be visited on-site without prior reservation, and to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the number of simultaneous visitors is limited to 30 or fewer. Detailed information about the exhibition can be found on the Seoul Museum of Art website (sema.seoul.go.kr).
▲ Lee Su-jin, Song of Fire and Ice
▲ Kim Won-hwa, Contour Line
▲ Kim Won-hwa, Drift-Discovery-Story