We’re looking forward to this, not just because it’s one of the few contemporary exhibitions we’ve had this year but also because it’s an opportunity to find out more about the emerging topic of non-fungible tokens in the fine art world. Make sure you review the list of talks and workshops associated with the exhibition.
Observing the Human: NFT exhibition with five Korean artists
We’d like to invite you Noonssup’s first exhibition, entitled Observing the Human, presenting five Korean artists – Sejin Kim, Gihun Noh, Daniel Schine Lee, Ga Ram Kim and Bongsu Park.
Observing the Human opens to the public from Sunday 3rd July until Saturday 9th July, 11am to 7pm. The exhibition is co-hosted with London-based art collecting platform Artscapy by the shared goal to showcase rigorous contemporary artistic research whose message is uniquely expressed through technology.
Observing the Human presents a journey into human perception – observation – that is enhanced or perhaps rather, distorted, by technological advancement. Five artists will consider observation as a sensory experience that goes beyond sight, creating a link between what is consciously perceived and subconsciously felt. The artistic interpretations on display are rooted in South Korean contemporary culture and iconography, and will together shape a new outlook on humanity through video, performance, photography, audio and NFT. Each work is for sale and has a unique tie to technology as a non-fungible token (NFT), whether the token stores the artwork directly or acts as a right to access the artwork.
Running throughout the exhibition, there will be a workshop and talks programme to help visitors learn more about the artistic project, NFTs and the underlying blockchain technology. The workshops will also feature practical support and Q&A on blockchain and NFTs, with the purpose to clear common misunderstandings of what the technology entails and how it is being used by artists.
Participating artists
Ga Ram Kim
Kim’s work focuses on social and cultural issues through playful participatory experiments. She mainly uses installation, media, and performance to induce audience participation and empathy. She carefully observes various social phenomena around her and attempts to capture an idea of the changing contemporary moment within her artistic experiments. In her works TheSexyBikini.com, Virgin Candy, #SELSTAR, and #FANTASY, Kim focused on the ironic dimensions of situations in which the meaning of value has changed over recent years, or how different levels of meaning creates conflict in the contemporary period. She has deepened her attention with contemporary societal issues at the 4ROSE Sound Project and the AGENDA Hair Salon. In her practice, Ga Ram Kim focuses on the social role of art in an ever- changing society. Through the social platform of the art exhibition, she hopes to use her work to create a meaningful venue for public conversation.
Sejin Kim
Sejin Kim is a media artist artist and filmmaker. She holds an MFA in Fine Art in Slade school of fine art, UCL and MA in Fim & TV in Media Art, Sogang University. She has working with a variety of media apparatuses, including documentary realism and cinematic language to explore various and perplexing relationships between individuals and contemporary systems. Her works have been exhibited at Songeun Art Space, National Museum of Contemporary and Modern Art in Seoul, MAXXI in Rome; Grunt Gallery in Vancouver; La Friche Belle de Mai in Marseille, France. She has participated in several residency programs including Delfina foundation (London), Helsinki International Artist Programme (HIAP), International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP), King Sejong Research Station (Antarctica) and MMCA residency(Goyang). Also she won the prize of Songeun Art Award, 4th Daum Prize and Unesco Prize for the Promotion of the Arts.
Daniel Schine Lee
Born in 1987 in New York, Lee has MA in Fine Art from the Royal College of Art, and is currently active in Seoul. Lee utilises sound, language, text, and visual imagery to arrange interactive installations and group performances in reference to particular subcultures — such as underground dance scene in Detroit and street food culture in post-Korean War, Seoul. Other recent involvements include being part of a curatorial team of Korea Research Fellow 10 x 10 in 2021, an active member of an artist-run-space Euljiro OF in Seoul, collaborating on sound and research with contemporary choreography group Libre Joven, and DJ-ing in Seoul’s underground venues.
Gihun Noh
Gihun Noh was born in Gumi in 1985. Now, he lives and works in Seoul, Korea. He showed photography, performance, installation and image based on the observation of the documentary things that exist mainly here and now. His way of working which is making his own unique reality as if in the self-contradiction is the way to be lived the past by a vulnerable Korean young man who is living in Korea where experienced many changes for a short period of time.
Gihun Noh is interested in the geographical environment resulted from the past, and takes a picture of its present appearance. From the premise that ‘The current situation stems from the past’, He takes a picture of the shadows of the past surrounding the present.
Bongsu Park
b. 1981 Busan, South Korea, lives and works in the United Kingdom. Contemporary multidisciplinary artist Bongsu Park’s work explores the relationship between new media and traditional art practices such as sculpture, installation, video, performance and audience participatory projects. Her recent work is founded on how our innermost thoughts may connect with other people’s and how these can be shared publicly. Since 2017 Bongsu has developed her Dream Auction project, exploring Korean dream culture including DREAM RITUAL(2019) at The Coronet Theatre in London and SOCIAL MATTERS THROUGH DREAM SHARING (2021) with The Tavistock Institute. She studied at the Slade School of Fine Arts, UK and at l’Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, France.
Associated events
- Sunday 3 July, 12:00: Phygital: From File to Physical Art (£75)
Let’s get phygital in artist Daniel Schine Lee’s workshop “from file to physical art” – the event includes the NFT and its physical print - Tuesday 5 July, 12:00: Enter the Subconscious: Social Dreaming Workshop (Free)
Explore human connection and the subconscious through dream sharing - Tuesday 5 July, 18:00: Exhibition Talk with the Artists (£5 inc refreshments)
Curious to learn about the artists and the concepts on display at Observing the Human? Come and meet the artists at this Exhibition Talk - Wednesday 6 July, 12:00: Aware Art Buying: From Zero to Collector (free)
Learn about the ins and outs of buying art and how everyone can (and perhaps should) become a collector to support arts and culture - Wednesday 6 July, 18:30: Collecting Today: The Art Collecting Experience (£5)
Three different art collecting journeys in one night…Hear about the ins and outs – and joys – of collecting - Thursday 7 July, 12:00: NFTs and Blockchain 1-0-1 (free)
Curious about what blockchain and NFT is all about? Untangle the myths and learn in a very informal way (without any mind boggling jargon) - Thursday 7 July, 18:30: Fine Art NFTs: From Museum to Market (£5)
How can we view NFTs within the traditional art world? This is the burning question in the art world now – hear views from industry leaders - Friday 8 July, 12:00: Noonssup at Noon: Pioneering Art using Technology (£20 inc lunch)
Noonssup is a pioneering artist collective creating thought-provoking art using technology – learn from the leading artists over lunch! - Friday 8 July, 18:30: New Frontiers in Art: Using Technology for Artistic Expression (£5)
Conversation between leading contemporary artists about using technology to create new artistic expression - Saturday 9 July, 12:00: Last Call: File to Physical Art with Daniel Schine Lee (£75)
Last Call to explore how art can move from the digital sphere into a physical artwork – participate in an in-person print workshop