'Robot Writer' Kwon Byungjun Selected for National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Artist of the Year 2023 Award

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art announced on the 8th that artist Kwon Byung-jun has been selected as the winner of the 'Artist of the Year Award 2023,' co-hosted with SBS Culture Foundation.

Artist Kwon Byungjun [Photo by National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art]

Known as the 'robot artist,' Kwon Byung-jun has gained recognition for planning and directing new media performances that encompass music, theater, and art, focusing on sound recordings with spatial audio and the reproduction and technological development within exhibition spaces.

The 'Artist of the Year Award' operates by selecting four capable contemporary visual artists who address aesthetic and social issues, providing opportunities for new work production and exhibitions, and then choosing one final winner. Each nominated artist receives 50 million KRW to produce new work, and the winner is awarded an additional 10 million KRW in sponsorship funds.

At the exhibition of nominated artists currently held at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Seoul, new works such as 'Robot Crossing a Narrow Bridge' were unveiled, expressing a fan dance performed by a robot using landscape sounds, light, and shadows, portrayed like shadow theater.

The judging panel stated, "Kwon Byung-jun's work was highly praised for questioning humanity through technology, delivering emotional impact, and providing a sharp resonance regarding understanding among people."

Kim Sung-hee, director of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, said, "Kwon Byung-jun used immersive robot comprehensive theater to question the infinite expansion possibilities of human communities and presented beautiful works that suggest various branches to the unstoppable flow of modern civilization."

The exhibition introducing the works of nominated artists Gala Poras-Kim, Lee Kang-seung, and Jeon So-jung, alongside Kwon Byung-jun, will continue at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Seoul until the 31st of next month.