Installation view of 《ARTSPECTRUM 2022》 © Leeum Museum of Art

《ARTSPECTRUM》 was launched in 2001 at Hoam Gallery as a biannual survey exhibition of young and emerging South Korean artists. Since 2006, it has been held at the Leeum Museum of Art, where the current processes for artist selection and review were established. In 2014, Leeum began inviting outside curators and critics as well as internal curators to recommend artists, in addition to a separate professional jury to select one artist to receive a prize. These processes embrace diversity, openness, and the artists’ creative will.  
 
Over the twenty-year history of 《ARTSPECTRUM》, Korea’s contemporary art scene underwent dramatic changes. Moving image and installation works are prevalent along with painting and sculpture. Performance and audience participation are now familiar approaches. So many young artists from prestigious schools at home and abroad are working actively across various mediums and genres, expanding the domain of visual art, diversifying the exhibition audience, and cultivating new identities as artist.

Hyeree Ro, Falls, 2022 © Hyeree Ro

Hyeree Christina Mary Ro has created works that weave and explore modern history and the artist’s family history through the intersections of body movement, language, and object. The new work Falls, presented in this exhibition, is also produced in this context and will consist of installation, video, and performance. Based on the artist’s experience of not going to Niagara Falls during a road trip, Falls follows the parallels and overlaps of individual’s life and three historical events: the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the September 11 attacks in 2001, and the inauguration of Donald Trump as the U.S. president in 2017.

When viewed from eye level, the structures of various tactile properties that make up the work are reminiscent of real-life landscapes such as waterfall streams and security checkpoints. When viewed from the top of the escalator at the entrance of the exhibition space, different motifs of dots, lines, and planes resembling downward coordinates of economic indicator graphs or guidance floor markings in the airport are present. As part of the work, a performance engaging with the objects will express personal narratives of immigration and migration.

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