[Exhibition of the Week] Miguel Chevalier's 'Digital Beauty' & Group Exhibition 'Knuckleball' etc.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] ▲Miguel Chevalier Solo Exhibition 'Digital Beauty' = Ara Art Center is hosting a solo exhibition titled 'Digital Beauty' by digital art pioneer Miguel Chevalier. This is Miguel Chevalier's first solo exhibition held in Seoul. 'Digital Beauty' features a total of over 70 works, including 14 installation pieces, drawings, and documentaries. Four new works will also be unveiled to the audience through this exhibition. In addition to the artworks, visitors can directly experience a creative studio, brand collaboration booths, and an art shop, making it an interactive exhibition where visitors can see and enjoy firsthand.

Writer Miguel Chevalier.
[Photo by Ara Art Center]

The exhibition showcases collaborative works with Patrick Tresset, including 'Attractor Dance,' a drawing robot performance with five arms creating drawings; 'Digital Moir?,' a 14-meter-high piece inspired by 1950s-60s Op Art; 'Machine's Eye' and 'Machine Vision,' generative interactive VR installations that create real-time portraits of visitors through surveillance cameras with facial recognition; UV light-based luminous installations; and robot drawings, among other works that integrate various technologies into art.

Miguel Chevalier is a leading French media artist and a pioneer of virtual and digital art. Since the 1980s, he has focused exclusively on computer-based art, creating works projected through LED/LCD screens, 3D printed sculptures, holograms, and more. In 2022, he was awarded the Cultural and Artistic Medal by the French Minister of Culture in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the cultural and artistic fields. In Korea, he held a solo exhibition titled 'Digital Abyss' in Jeju Island in 2021, which attracted over 320,000 visitors and was a great success. A representative from Ara Art Center, the exhibition organizer, said, “Following the 2021 'Digital Abyss,' we are pleased to host another large-scale exhibition of Miguel Chevalier this year, and we hope visitors will experience the magical virtual world created by points, lines, and space.” The exhibition runs until February 11, 2024, at Ara Art Center, Insadong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

Nojima Ryota, Long Bath, 2019, Oil on canvas, 45.5 x 38cm
Photo by Gallery Chosun

▲Nojima Ryota, Maki Kim, Lee Yunseo Group Exhibition 'Knuckleball' = Gallery Chosun is hosting a group exhibition titled 'Knuckleball' featuring Nojima Ryota, Maki Kim, and Lee Yunseo. The exhibition is held in collaboration with Hagiwara Projects in Tokyo, Japan, introducing two Japanese artists and one Korean artist. The exhibition title 'Knuckleball' refers to a type of baseball pitch with minimal spin. Due to the lack of rotation, the ball moves unpredictably because of the turbulence around it, making its movement appear as if it is dancing. Although slower than other pitches, its irregular movement makes it difficult for batters to swing easily.

None of the three artists approached us with fastballs or sudden breaking balls. Like the rhythm of brushstrokes seen in their paintings, they approached with relaxed movements, as if dancing. Nojima Ryota and Maki Kim wander through everyday objects and events, capturing them in paintings with either concrete or ambiguous forms. Lee Yunseo depicts images fleeting across digital device screens with rhythmic brushstrokes. All three focus on objects and events around them. Their paintings, which likely experienced realities similar to ours, sensually reconstruct our reality. Through this, viewers might find themselves defenselessly struck by their knuckleball. The exhibition runs until February 25 at Gallery Chosun, Sogyeok-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

▲Lee Seongsu Solo Exhibition 'My Cat, My Schr?dinger' = SciArt Center is hosting a solo invitational exhibition titled 'My Cat, My Schr?dinger' by rock musician and artist Lee Seongsu. This is SciArt Center's first curated exhibition, showcasing over 50 works including paintings, installations, and videos. The artist expresses issues of human society disrupted after the pandemic and ontological questions through the languages of rock music and visual arts. In the works presented in this exhibition, the artist explains that he unfolds tender and humble everyday stories newly discovered through living with his pet cat.

Not stopping at everyday life stories, the artist expands the theme of the works to the issues of relationships and encounters between beings through artistic dialogues with artist Yuk Geunbyung. The exhibition title 'My Cat, My Schr?dinger' is a proxy name chosen to translate the artist’s changed perspective on existence and the world, experienced while observing his pet cat 'Kkumi,' into a quantum mechanics narrative. Through his works, the artist suggests that when observing or looking at an object or other, existence and the world undergo qualitative changes, and even their meanings can differ. The exhibition is organized into five sections, allowing viewers to appreciate the works through various media such as drawings, installations, and videos. The artist’s drawings are also available for selective acquisition by visitors through original works and editions. The exhibition runs until February 5 at SciArt Center, Anguk-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.