Solo Exhibitions (Brief)

Seo’s solo exhibitions include 《MIXED SUBLIME》 (Art Space Hyeong, Seoul, 2023), 《Praise of Crossbred》 (KimHeeSoo Art Center Art Gallery, Seoul, 2023), 《Performance for Topological Sense》 (TINC, Seoul, 2021), and 《Topological Sense》 (Alterside, Seoul, 2020).

Group Exhibitions (Brief)

Seo has also participated in various group exhibitions such as 《Connecting the Dots》 (Goyang Aram Arts Center, Goyang, 2024), 《Public Art New Hero》 (K&L Museum, Seoul, 2024), 《Exhibition / Publication》 (WESS, Seoul, 2022), 《Museum Access: Through the Eco-Corridor》 (Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Ansan, 2022), and 《ZER01NE DAY》 (Hyundai Motor Group, Seoul, 2019; 2021).

Awards (Selected)

Seo was selected as a ZER01NE Creator by Hyundai Motor Group in 2019 and for the ‘Pubic Art New Hero’ in 2023.

Residencies (Selected)

Seo Sunghyeop participated as an artist-in-residence at the MMCA Residency Goyang in 2023 and at Seoul Art Space Geumcheon in 2022.

Originality & Identity

Seo Sunghyeop’s work begins with a question about the concept of “purebred.” He seeks to disrupt the narrative that regards the unblended state as “pure,” and to recover the countless possibilities excluded in the process of purification. As revealed in his first solo exhibition 《Topological Sense》 (Alterside, 2020), the artist creates situations in which different media and senses are entangled through a “topological methodology,” which he defines as a “topological sense.” This is not limited to visual form but constitutes an experiment that challenges the hierarchical order of reality through shifts in relations and perceptions.

This concept expanded in the following year’s solo exhibition 《Performance for Topological Sense》 (TINC, 2021). Making use of the spatial context of a former church, Seo constructed a site where Eastern and Western instruments, religious symbols, and the positions of audience and performer intermingled. For instance, the installation Dangsan Column (2021) resonated shamanistic bells within a Christian cathedral space, overturning its sacred order. Such collisions exemplify the “topology” that Seo consistently investigates—the transformation and inversion of relations.

From 2022 onward, the ‘Monument’ series broadened his topological inquiry into social and historical dimensions. Monument #01 (2022) and Monument #02 (2023) appropriated the monumental form associated with public memory, but inscribed their surfaces with personal experiences and hybrid images. In doing so, Seo dismantled historical heroism and disrupted authoritative narratives by foregrounding micro-histories.

More recent works such as the ‘Exo-Monument’ (2024) series and Intake, Exhaust (2024) further expand the notion of hybridity. Beyond exposing the fiction of purity, Seo conceptualizes hybridity as both a “place” and a “principle of generation.” Through this process, he introduces a critical awareness that “we can all be hybrids,” thereby proposing a new coordinate within the philosophical landscape of contemporary art.

Style & Contents

Seo Sunghyeop’s early works concentrated on the convergence of sound and objects. In 《Topological Sense》 (2020), pieces such as Topological Sense ver.1 (2020) and Sound Frame (2020) deployed mechanical devices that repetitively produced sounds, revealing a topology that oscillated between sculpture, architecture, and musical instrument. As viewers pursued these sounds, they became performers as well as observers, entering into a relational dynamic with the works. This method enacted a topological shift, where visual objects transformed into auditory experience, and sound once again into visuality.

The ‘Sound Paravan’ series of 2021 appeared as hybrid objects combining the structure of traditional Korean instruments with the form of Western instruments. For example, Sound Paravan 01 (2021) produced the sound of the gayageum, yet its external form incorporated structural and decorative features from violins, cellos, and Western furniture. In this way, the paravan—traditionally a background object—was transformed into a sound-producing protagonist, acquiring a new status within its relational exchange with the audience.

Works following his more recent solo exhibition 《Praise of Crossbred》 (KimHeeSoo Art Center, 2023) shifted focus from sound to visual narrative. Monument #01 juxtaposed historical symbolism with personal experience by combining a Doric capital with a tetrapod, and further inscribed its surface with Polish text to visualize cultural hybridity. Subsequently, Allusive Sequence (2023) arranged a series of tetrapods to materialize the notion of “solidarity” in physical form.

In his latest works, the artist turns to experiments with materials. The ‘Exo-Monument’ series reproduced tetrapods with boundary-oriented materials such as rattan and leather, exploring the status of shells and surfaces. Intake, Exhaust (2024) combined an air blower and harmonica, intersecting human breath and mechanical force to expose a topology of generation. Seo’s practice has thus evolved from a sound-centered beginning to a visual and material expansion of topological inquiry.

Topography & Continuity

Within the landscape of contemporary Korean art, Seo Sunghyeop has constructed a distinctive practice that probes relations and boundaries through the concepts of “topology” and “hybridity.” His early works experimented with the topological transformation of sound and objects, and later expanded into monumental forms addressing social and historical contexts. More recently, he has examined material properties and the notion of boundaries, shifting the discourse of hybridity from identity to space and generation.

His work carves out a unique territory at the intersections of heterogeneous elements—Korean tradition and Western language, religious rituals and secular devices, musical instruments and sculptures. This represents a significant attempt to critically reconfigure the contemporary tension between “purity” and “hybridity.”

Seo’s trajectory begins with his training in design, later transitioning into visual art, where he has expanded into a multidisciplinary practice encompassing objects and performance. From 《Topological Sense》 to 《Praise of Crossbred》, and from the ‘Monument’ series to the ‘Exo-Monument’ series, he has consistently pursued topological relations and hybrid narratives, developing along a coherent path. His formal language, intersecting personal experience, historical events, tradition, and the contemporary, signals the possibility of charting a new topological map of hybrid art within contemporary discourse.