The solo exhibition 《F.O.R.D. Fix Or Repair Daily》 by Seo Young Chang, winner of the 23rd Wumin Art Award, is currently on view at Wumin Art Center.
Opened on July 9 and running through August 23, the exhibition raises questions about the relationship between the body and time, a subject Chang has consistently explored throughout her artistic practice.
Moving between the virtual and physical worlds, the inside and outside of the body, and life and death, Chang offers profound reflections on the conditions of existence and the ways in which our bodies exist.
"I have always been interested in 'existence' itself. It seemed both obvious and fascinating to me. On a cosmic scale, nonexistence is actually a more natural state, while the very fact of 'being' is a rare event. I think I have been contemplating the specific questions that arise when we ask why we exist."
Early in her artistic career, Chang focused on "existence in a social sense," but after experiencing a decline in her health, she began investigating the "existence of the physical body."
"I used to think about the conditions of existence in social terms. If we are all physically similar, why do some people have greater influence and presence, while others seem almost invisible in society? Then, as my health deteriorated, I became interested in the very fact that the body exists. Everyone has a body, and the way we perceive the world varies depending on the condition of that body.
When we are unwell, it can affect how we perceive the world, almost as though noise has been introduced into a filter. That experience changed the way I understood the body and the senses. I became fascinated by the fact that the body is finite, that it is affected by time, and that it is constantly changing."
One particularly notable aspect of the exhibition is the way Chang compares the body to a machine that continually requires repair and replacement over time. She explores how the machines we use in everyday life become obsolete, undergo updates, and gradually become unfamiliar, reflecting the process through which they continually transform into different entities as time passes.
Throughout the exhibition, Chang conveys her ideas through a range of media, including video, text, drawing, and installation.
"I am not entirely sure what led me to work across different media. I think my practice developed in this direction because my goal has always been to create particular situations. When multiple works are placed together, I believe they can form relationships by referring to, generating, or quoting one another. Through this process, I want viewers to piece together the situation for themselves.
Some narratives are complete within individual works, but I hope that looking at the exhibition as a whole will offer another perspective. For this exhibition as well, I worked while constantly imagining virtual lines connecting the different pieces."
The exhibition is divided into two main spaces, where the works remain independent yet organically interconnected. Gallery 1 presents two central works.
The first work visitors encounter is Fix Or Repair Daily, which shares its title with the exhibition. It is a key work that runs throughout the exhibition, beginning with the question, "Is it possible to get lost even on a single path?"
"There are moments when places such as health screening centers, large hospitals, highway Hi-Pass toll systems, or moving walkways feel more like labyrinths, even though their routes are clearly defined. Perhaps these paths and procedures feel like a maze despite their clarity because the 'self' following that single line is constantly becoming someone different. Rather than finding my own way, I am placed on a conveyor belt and transported like a product, while my body is continually being reassembled into something else. That was what I began to think about."
As viewers follow a single path resembling an automated production line, they encounter fragmented texts that prompt them to perceive themselves as different beings.
The second work, A's Thread, explores playback devices, corporations, and content. In the work, an unwound cassette tape is wound back onto its reel like Ariadne's thread, tracing the record of a family road trip in an attempt to escape a labyrinthine timeline.
"In Fix Or Repair Daily, the figure of Theseus appears as someone wandering through a labyrinth. In A's Thread, however, he appears through the philosophical paradox of the 'Ship of Theseus,' which concerns an entity that continuously changes and has no fixed, permanent substance. I wanted to create a kind of pathway across multiple works, in which similar forms or meanings recur with slight variations rather than appearing in exactly the same form. I hope viewers will discover these points of connection."
Gallery 2 presents paintings and installations alongside video works. Earlier pieces are also included in the exhibition. By bringing together older works, such as Your Delivery(2019), Ecdysis(2021), and Sparkler(2021), with new works, Chang has arranged the exhibition so that the earlier pieces can acquire meanings different from those they originally carried.
"In this exhibition, I attempted to recontextualize and bring my earlier works into the present. Although a work can speak for itself, I also considered how it might take on a different meaning when placed within a particular arrangement. When I originally made Ecdysis, it was primarily about the shedding of the body as an organism. However, when viewed alongside A's Thread in this exhibition, I think it can also be interpreted as a work about devices, updates, and media itself."
Believing that multiple forms of time coexist even in the contemporary world, Chang poses a question to viewers: "What kind of time have we been using?"
"Humans have natural lifespans and rhythms, but I think there are also forms of time that humans have created. There are moments when the time of systems or media comes into conflict with biological time, creating discrepancies. Alongside the temporality that exists only within a timeline, I hope viewers will consider what kind of time each of them is using as they encounter the works."
Reflecting on her consideration of the present moment, Chang stated, "This exhibition offered me an opportunity to revisit and organize both my past and current works, while also thinking about what lies ahead." She added, "I had many concerns as I went through my forties, but the enjoyable and highly flexible process of preparing this exhibition as an artist allowed me to rediscover something like the pure joy of creating. I am grateful to everyone at Wumin Art Center."
