Artists

Soyoung Chung

Chung’s works have been produced while pondering philosophical questions about time that the myriad materials surrounding our lives have passed through. Chung said she found a stone one day, and it inspired her to imagine the time of the Earth. Her interest spontaneously reached beneath the Earth’s surface (geology) she stood on and above it (geopolitics). Erosion and deposition serves as keys to understanding the universal history of creation and annihilation. It was when her imagination extended from soil to continents, from horizon to borders, from cities to islands, to become new weaving stories of individual, historical, natural memories. Chung has recently expanded her vision into oceanic spacetime (oceanography), where there would probably be no human soul, no human being, ever. From a human’s point of view, imagining the hadal zone amounts to calling for a spacetime in another dimension, just as moving into the universe, toward infinity. The artist put forward a long-time consideration reflecting on geological movement and oceanic epoch to face them as they are.

Depth. Swaying its body, Rolling (2020)’s steady black lines nestles in a white square room. Floating on the walls, Island for Fisherman (2021) balances on the tension between gravity and buoyancy. Making a semicircle, Return from Far Far Away (2021) covers the first, second and third floors. I strain my ear to hear the little, circular wisdoms drawn on the surface of the ocean. 

Boundary. The horizon gives us homecoming comfort. It is probably because we have lived on the earth. Mirrors for Mirok Li (2021) drains off “the anxious water” and keeps the traces of memories, letting us contemplate someone who left home to be an emigrant during the turbulent days. With the cycle of the moon phases, what mirrors reflect in 29.5 Days (2021) is “the light of myself” through water along with time. Memories of the moon pull the waters. They call upon a geographic coordinate system for memorizing the ebbs and flows that change day by day. The tides disappear, and they are a record of the full stream remained on the mudflat. 

Here. Physics principles in Chung’s artworks seem to be divided into both poles. But if their collisions could be unbreakable, and if their actions could be unseparated, we can probably mull over this: would it be possible for external principles and the internal forces to be operating at the same time in a “space,” and disappear? It is like ISA (2021) that moves on the invisible borders from the sea bottom to the dinner table. It is like Jet Lag (2021) that reveals continuity and discontinuity of life shown by a couple of the revolving doors playing as entrances and exits as well. It is, like, to say that our lives are made up of a series of “moments” of experiences.

Sea Cucumber, Manganese and Ear leads to daily life across the water and earth surfaces, starting from the deep sea that no human would reach. The exhibition becomes a reservoir for stories with warped matters and inflections of the eyes. The events of time are embellished with embossed and etched figures, and they infinitely move to “a certain place”, according to the properties of matter. They are no less than potential affairs, a preview of what’s coming next. The place would perhaps realize the flow of the time that nothing would be concluded. With Chung, what if you follow a point of view of the substances, instead of your eyes capturing the physical substances? The Earth is hidden behind the things around us. I strain my ears, again, to the orbital echoes coming from between the stratum lines and the ocean facets. 

EDUCATION

2003 DNSAP, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, France

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2021

  • Sea Cucumber, Manganse and Ear, One and J Gallery, Seoul

2020

  • Glass Beach, Instant Roof, Seoul

2016

  • Night and Day, Offsite Art Sonje, Seoul

2013

  • Traveling without moving, D project sapce, Daelim museum of art, Seoul

2011

  • On the ground floor of the Geology building, OCI museum of art, Seoul

2008

  • Zero Construction, Project Space Sarubia, Seoul

2007

  • A different kind of tension, Kumho Young Artist, Kumho museum of art, Seoul

2006

  • Innerscape,Gallery Miss China Beauty, Paris

GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selected)

2021

  • Time of the Earth, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary art, Gwacheon
  • Matters to Life, MMCA, Changdong Residency, Seoul
  • DMZ Peace and Art Platform, Inter-Korean Transit Office, Jejin Station, Goseong
  • Margins of Error, Nirox Foundation, South Africa
  • Border-less.Site, curated by Junglim foundation, Culture Station 284
  • Artists Take-Over, Songeun Art Space, Seoul

2020 

  • Our Homecoming, Korean Cultural Centre, Hongkong
  • Summer-Winter Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, U.K
  • Two Mountains, Tiger1, Seoul
  • Negotiating Borders, Fondation Fiminco, Romainville, France
  • CAMP2020, Camp Long, Former US military base, Wonju

2019

  • Negotiating Borders, Korean Cultural Center, U.K. London

  • The 14th International Curitiba Biennial, Curitiba, Brazil
  • Power Play, Delfina Foundation, London

2018

  • Genre Allegory-the Sculptural, Total Museum of Art, Seoul
  • Cour des Miracles, Doosan Art Gallery, Seoul
  • Gapado Project, Hyundai Card Storage, Seoul
  • Delfina in SongEun: PowerPlay, SongEun Art Space, Seoul
  • The Real DMZ, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, U.K
  • Non-Sense Music II: Borders, KunstQuartier Bethanien, Berlin

2017

  • Triangulating Particulars, HilbertRaum, Berlin

2016

  • The 16th SongEun Art Award, SongEun Art Space, Seoul
  • The Moon, round like a little place, Daegu Art Factory, Daegu
  • APMAP 2016 Yongsan, Make Link, public art project organized by Amore Pacific Museum of art, Seoul
  • Besiktas bahceve & cicek festvali, Ortaköy Yetimhanesi, Istanbul, Turkey
  • Architectural Ceramics-Earth, Clayarch Museum, Gimhae

2015

  • Re-Play:4 platforms and 17 events, Seoul Museum of art, Seoul ​
  • Seoul, Vite, Vite, Renaissance-Lille 3000, Curated by Jean-Max Colard, Tripostal, Lille, France
  • REAL DMZ: Dongsong Project, curated by SAMUSO, Dongsong, Cherowon and Art Sonje, Seoul
  • Drift, One and J gallery, Seoul
  • OCI YOUNG CREATIVES 5th Anniversary Exhibition, Sixth Sense, OCI Museum of art, Seoul
  • Cristallisations – la naissance d’un ordre caché, Curated by Centre Pompidou Metz and Hermes Foundation, Musée du cristal Saint-Louis, France
  • A Resonating Triangle, Arario Museum Dongmun Motel II, Jeju
  • Salon de Sema : New Collection, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea

2014

  • Between waves, APMAP Jeju, Amore Pacific museum of art, O'sulloc green tea farm, Jeju

2013

  • round project, gallery factory, Seoul

2012

  • Galapagos, Ilmin museum of art, Seoul
  • 10 Young Creators, D Project Space, Seoul
  • Outskirt, publication project, Gallery Factory, Seoul
  • Sparkling Secrets, Daelim Museum, Seoul
  • 24 Wood sticks and a suitcase, LIG Art hall, Busan
  • Seoul Anatomy, Nanji Art Studio Gallery, Seoul
  • Sporadic Positioning, Arario Gallery, Cheonan

2011

  • No.45 Kumho young artist, Kummho museum of art, Seoul
  • Space Study, Plateau, Seoul
  • Relay, Clayarch Gimhae Museum, Gimhae

2010

  • Last Summer, Gallery Jungmiso, Seoul
  • Dual Phase, Gallery Skape, Seoul
  • Out of Line, Space Hamilton, Seoul
  • What we found in an abandoned garage, two person show with Sandro Setola, Gallery Factory, Seoul
  • Unrealized Projects_Architecture of Incompleteness, curating and participation, Space Hamilton, Seoul

2009

  • Turning Up # 2, I M ART Gallery, Seoul
  • Moving Museum, KumhoMuseum of art, Seoul

2008

  • Propose 7 (vol.3), Kumho Museum of art, Seoul
  • Salon de dessin, Paris
  • Fiac, art fair, Paris

2007

  • Outside perspective, Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland
  • Open Studios 8, Ssamzie Space, Seoul
  • Avalanches, space &bsp at La Générale, Paris

2006

  • Apocalypse Now –Intrusion, &bsp at La Générale, Paris
  • Cosmogonies, La Galerie, Centre d’art contemporain de Noisy le Sec, Noisy-le-sec

2005

  • Multiprise2, Cité Internationale des arts, Paris
  • Papier Peint, Fiac, stand Miss china beauty, Paris
  • Nuit Blanche, Videobox, Paris
  • Jeune création, Bellevilloise, Paris
  • Waiting_workshop, Casino Luxembourg, forum d’art contemporain, Luxembourg
  • Liaisons dangereuses, Miss china beauty, Paris
  • Open Studio, Cité Internationale des Arts, Montmartre, Paris
  • VidéoBox 3, Miss China Lunchbox, Paris
  • Exposition Collective, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris

2004

  • Noir d’un jour, Miss China Beauty, Paris
  • Première vue, Passage de Retz, Paris
  • Nature Artificielle, Nuit Blanche, Bercy Village, Paris
  • Maison/témoins, the store, Paris

PROJECTS

2019

  • Matera Citta Aperta, installation/secenography for IAC, Centro Arti Integrate, Italy

2016

  • Night and Day, Fluide collection #03, publication 

2014

  • How to survive in the forest, collaborative project with Arnauld Colcomb & Busy Rocks, Le Cyclop, Milly-la-foret, France

2013

  • Vertical Horizons, Granbell Hotel, Tokyo

2010

  • Map for Unrealized City, Art and Architecture Publication project, curating and participation, Take out Drawing
  • Unrealized Projects _Architecture of Incompleteness, curating and Participation
/supported by Seoul Art Council, KSAD

2008-2009

  • Nothing Too Much, project team_ curatorial and collaborative Projects
  • Little Black Riding Hood, Space Hamilton
  • Blind spot, Start Gallery
  • Dark Cloud, Daily Projects
  • The Stage, Creative Culture Space Kring
  • The Concert, Bundang Central Park
  • TK10Party, Tensta Konsthalle, Stockholm
supported by Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation, Korea

2007

  • Light house, public art project curated by Borderline Agency
  • Art4Lux, forum and show organized by Pépinières for european young artists, Luxembourg
  • Dimension Generale, art+architecture project team
  • plan02, Maison de l’Architecture, Paris
  • Competition, 9.11 memorial project for Pennsylvania,USA

RESIDENCIES

2021

  • Changdong Residency, MMCA, South Korea

2020

  • Seoul Art Space Geumcheon, Seoul, South Korea

2018

  • Gapado Artist-in-Residence, Gapado, Jeju

2017

  • ZK/U, Berlin
  • Delfina Foundation, London

2014

  • Le Cyclop, Milly-la-Foret, France

2012

  • Nanji Art Studio Residency, Seoul

2011

  • Clayarch Gimhae Museum, Gimhae

2007

  • Short Period Residency at Ssamzie Space, Seoul

2006

  • National Sculpture Factory, Cork, Ireland (Award MapXXL of Pépinières Européennes pour Jeunes Artistes)

2005

  • Workshop_ Waiting, Casino Luxembourg, Forum d’art contemporain, Luxembourg
  • One Year residency at La cité internationale des arts, Paris

COMMISSION

2021

  • Rising Rain, Seoul public art commission, Gangdong-Gu, Seoul

2018

  • Jahadam projet, public art commission by City of Seoul at Pedestrian bridge in Shinyoung Lottery, Seoul
  • Growing Forest, Observatory Tower with Nameless Architecture, commission by the city of Seoul

2016

  • Jeju Hanjit Renovation Project: Public art project, permanent installation, Jeju

2013

  • Light Garden, public outdoor sculpture commissioned by city of Hamyang, Sanglim Forest, Hamyang

2011

  • Light Tree, public outdoor sculpture production, Gyeonggi Kids Museum, Yongin

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