LISEOK graduated with a degree in visual design. He works as an artist across various fields, including media performance, international organization campaigns, and fashion. He is currently lives and works in Paris, France.
LISEOK
has held solo exhibition 《FRAME: The Edge of All
Grounds》 (Art Space Hohwa, Seoul, 2024).
LISEOK has also participated in numerous group
exhibitions, such as 《Heritage: The Future Fantasy》 (DDP, Seoul, 2025), 《Transcendencia: La
vida》 (Korean Cultural Center in Argentina, Buenos
Aires, 2024), and 《Hi, Light》
(KOO HOUSE MUSEUM, Yangpyeong, 2022).
LISEOK’s
work begins with reconstructing the relationship between nature, humans, and
technology through the concepts of “light” and “frame.” He assumes nature as an
infinite entity, and by imposing the finite boundary of a “frame” onto it, he
questions the very way we perceive nature. As seen in the ‘FRAME’ series, which
began in 2018, the artist intervenes in natural landscapes with artificial
light to create scenes where reality and unreality intersect, transforming
familiar landscapes into unfamiliar sensory experiences.
This
approach expands beyond simply representing nature to revealing the perceptual
structures through which humans view it. In works such
as FRAME2021-CHT(2021), light functions not as a tool
to illuminate nature, but as a device that cuts across and segments it. Through
this, the artist exposes moments where nature and humans, environment and
technology collide and intersect, while exploring the dissonance in perception
that arises in between.
In the
2022 work ENTER(2022), this line of inquiry extends to
the relationship between technology and humans. Set against the backdrop of a
“hyper-connected” society accelerated in the aftermath of COVID-19, the artist
focuses on the idea that while artificial intelligence may surpass human
capabilities, the domain of “sensation” still remains uniquely human. The
structure of a narrow, elongated passage leading to a screen metaphorically
suggests a threshold into a new world, visually conveying the anxiety and
confusion of confronting a technology-driven reality.
In the
recent solo exhibition 《FRAME: The Edge
of All Grounds》(Art Space Hohwa, Seoul, 2024), this
exploration of the relationship between nature and humans becomes more
structurally articulated. Into the Frame(2024)
and Bruised Flame(2024) combine themes of hyper-connectivity,
sensory loss, and cycles of creation and extinction, presenting the
relationship between nature, technology, and humans as a complex sensory
structure. In this process, the artist’s focus shifts from viewing nature to examining
the very conditions in which nature and humans coexist.
LISEOK has
developed his practice based on projection mapping and media façade techniques.
Projecting images onto the surfaces of architectural exteriors or natural
environments—as seen in projects such as the PyeongChang Olympic Cauldron, Oil
Tank Culture Park, and Daegu Arts Center—his work expands into forms integrated
with public space. In these works, light functions as an immaterial medium that
replaces physical materials and reconfigures space.
In the
‘FRAME’ series, this technological foundation shifts into natural environments.
Light projected onto elements such as mountains, rocks, and trees functions as
a kind of “window,” transforming real landscapes into constructed images. Here,
the combination of photography, video, and installation operates not merely as
visual representation, but as an environmental device that alters how viewers
perceive space. In particular, the use of solar energy enables a minimal mode
of intervention that does not damage nature.
In ENTER,
spatial staging is combined with sound, making the viewer’s bodily experience
central. The structure of passing through a narrow passage and encountering a
video and sound at its end draws the viewer into a continuous flow, creating an
immersive environment that extends beyond visual experience. This demonstrates
a shift in media work from being something to look at, to something to be
experienced.
In the
recent work MUNYEE(2025), the expansion of medium takes
another direction. By translating the movements of Taekwondo poomsae into light
and sound, the work transforms bodily rhythm and patterns into abstract
imagery. Within a structure combining multi-channel displays and sound,
movement condenses into moments of stillness, while sound functions as an
element that extends physical rhythm. Through this, LISEOK’s work expands from
nature and environment toward the sensory dimensions of the body and time.
A defining characteristic of LISEOK’s work is his use of “light”
as a language. In his practice, light does not merely function as a visual
effect, but as a medium that connects and reveals the relationships between
nature, humans, and technology. In particular, the concept of the “frame”
operates as a device that structures these relationships, reconfiguring the
very way nature is perceived.
LISEOK’s media sensibility not only effectively manifests
technical and visual effects, but also closely engages with issues of
perception. Rather than focusing on spectacle itself, he attends to the shifts
in sensation and perception that such spectacle produces, encouraging viewers
to perceive the familiar world in unfamiliar ways. In doing so, while
addressing the relationship between nature and technology, his work ultimately
centers on human sensory experience.
From media façade works in public spaces, to the ‘FRAME’ series in
natural environments, and more recently to installations combining sound and
embodied experience, the trajectory of his practice can be understood as a
gradual expansion of the sensory range that can be articulated through the
language of light.
Moving forward, his work will continue to vary fluidly across
media such as projection, installation, sound, and multi-channel environments.
Ultimately, LISEOK’s practice gains its strength from enabling us to re-sense a
world we assume we already know, leaving open the possibility for continuously
generating new scenes at that point of perception.
LISEOK (b. 1988) has developed a
multidisciplinary practice spanning photography, media, and installation,
capturing familiar landscapes as unfamiliar scenes in order to awaken dulled
senses and expand rigid frameworks of thought.
In particular, the artist experiments with
projection mapping techniques—casting images onto the surfaces of objects and
architectural façades—within natural environments, reflecting on the organic
relationship between humans and nature while addressing the loss of tangible,
lived sensations in rapidly changing contemporary society.
LISEOK has long engaged with themes of
nature, environment, and climate. In approaching these subjects, the artist
sets the finite boundary of a “frame” upon the phenomenon of nature—rooted in
infinity—focusing on moments where nature and humanity, art and the times, and
environments intersect and collide.
The concept of the “frame,” which runs
through LISEOK’s artistic practice as both an idea and a formal element,
emerges from the encounter between natural environments and artificial elements
such as light and digital technology. Produced through 3D mapping techniques
and projection technologies, artificial light cuts across the very center of
mountains, rocks, and trees, functioning as a meticulously constructed, surreal
window that penetrates the boundary between reality and unreality.
Initiated in 2018, LISEOK’s ‘FRAME’ series
is a representative body of media work in which artificial lighting is
installed within natural settings to capture specific scenes. The series
represents an attempt to connect nature and humanity, actively engaging natural
elements while carefully introducing controlled artificial interventions.
His media installations—often understood as
a form of land art—are realized in ways that do not harm the natural
environment. For instance, light, the primary medium of his work, is
immaterial: it is temporarily placed upon a subject and then disappears.
Furthermore, by utilizing solar energy, LISEOK achieves a self-sustaining
artistic practice, generating and consuming energy independently.
The ‘FRAME’ series, which seeks to bring
art and the environment into dialogue, raises questions about harmony with
nature and the role of art, while also prompting reflection on contemporary
environmental issues and the interconnectedness between humans and nature.
Meanwhile, in the 2022 work
ENTER, the artist installed video accompanied by a grand,
immersive sound within a narrow, corridor-like entrance, posing questions about
the era of “hyper-connectivity” accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and
advances in science and technology.
LISEOK argues that while artificial
intelligence may surpass human limitations, it has yet to acquire the realm of
sensory experience. He suggests that although the act of “feeling” undeniably
exists, even humans do not fully understand its principles—and therefore cannot
teach it.
Fearing the consequences of a world
governed by such an absence, the artist expresses this sentiment by stating,
“The door through which I wish to enter that world is very narrow.”
Reflecting this idea, the narrow,
corridor-like entrance leading to ENTER functions as a
passage toward a “gateway.” At its end, a tall and narrow screen presents
chaotic imagery accompanied by a powerful, immersive sound.
Within the screen, a blue sphere transforms
into a rectangle, then into a white rectangle and elongated blue rectangular
forms, or into images of explosions—conveying the artist’s sense of confusion
about how to confront and embrace a new civilization.
In 2024, LISEOK’s solo exhibition 《FRAME: The Edge of All Grounds》, held at Art
Space Hohwa, further expanded his long-standing exploration of the organic
relationship between humans and nature.
In his work, the visual boundaries between
the inside and outside of nature—constructed through the frame—function as a
platform that renders visible, in an estranged manner, the gap between nature
and the disorienting sensations and realities of a rapidly changing
contemporary society.
Departing from traditional ways of viewing
nature, the deliberate installation invites viewers to look down upon the works
from their own vantage point. This arrangement subverts the synesthetic
impressions of nature embedded in our collective memory, ultimately prompting a
reconsideration of the inverted relationship between humans and nature.
His new artwork unveiled in this
exhibition, Into the Frame (2024), captures the fear of the
hyper-connected era where everything is linked through the internet, and the
resultant sensory loss regarding nature, within a third space and on screen.
The abstract illusions of endless lines
transitioning from one world to another provide a unique experience that goes
beyond merely captivating the viewer’s gaze with spectacular beauty, offering
an opportunity to transform the way one perceives the essence of existence.
Alongside this, the media installation Bruised
Flame (2024) uses the primal sensation evoked by the image of burning
logs as material. It reinterprets the shape of flames that vigorously rise and
then fade away through projection, questioning the coexistential relationship
between nature and humans through the cycle of creation and extinction.
Alongside his exploration of the
relationships between nature and humans, and technology and humans through
digital media, LISEOK has also developed works that reinterpret bodily movement
and patterns through light and sound.
For instance, in MUNYEE
(2025), presented in the group exhibition 《Heritage:
The Future Fantasy》 hosted by the Korea Heritage
Service, he translates the movements and patterns of Taekwondo poomsae—guided
by verbal cues—into minimal expressions of light, while incorporating recorded
kihap (yelling) sounds into the audio.
In MUNYEE, a media
installation composed of eleven monitors, the movements of Taekwondo poomsae,
translated into light, take shape within brief moments of stillness. The motion
fades, but its grain remains, gathering into a single motif.
The sound is layered with recorded kihap
(yelling), transformed into subtle sonic textures that echo the work’s physical
rhythm. Pattern becomes a vast fabric woven with light: restrained gestures,
muted colors, and a quiet vibrancy that blooms within empty space.
In this way, LISEOK uses the medium of light
to think through and connect relationships between nature and humans,
technology and humans, and art and technology. By presenting his works as
multisensory compositions that incorporate not only visual but also auditory
elements, he invites viewers to sense and reflect on the organic
interconnectedness within this world.
In other words, his practice brings into
contact inherently intertwined yet paradoxically conflicting realms—such as
technology and nature, and humanity and art—awakening essential sensibilities
that have become dulled, and offering an opportunity to reconsider contemporary
environmental and social issues.
”A familiar landscape, unchanged
and returning day after day, eventually settles into a still image. I look for
an opening within that inertia. To discover something new, I begin by seeing
the familiar from a different angle. I linger on that turning point.”
”The same object can feel
completely different depending on the light. I use that light to build ‘FRAME’
on my world across the landscape, and to pull the unfamiliar from the places
our eyes have grown numb to. To me, light is not merely a tool but a language
of its own.” (LISEOK, from the video regarding the project ‘Framing
the Unfamiliar’)
LISEOK studied visual design and began his
career with an invited media performance at the MAXXI National Museum of 21st
Century Arts in Rome, Italy, in 2015. Since then, he has been working as a
multidisciplinary artist, moving across a wide range of fields including art,
international organization campaigns, performance, fashion, and the public
sector.
His recent solo exhibitions include 《FRAME: The Edge of All Grounds》 (Art Space
Hohwa, Seoul, 2024). He has also participated in numerous group exhibitions,
such as 《Heritage: The Future Fantasy》 (DDP, Seoul, 2025), 《Transcendencia: La
vida》 (Korean Cultural Center in Argentina, Buenos
Aires, 2024), and 《Hi, Light》
(KOO HOUSE MUSEUM, Yangpyeong, 2022).
In addition, LISEOK has collaborated with
various global brands including Jordan, NIKE, and Porsche, and has participated
in media façade projects such as the PyeongChang Olympic Cauldron, Oil Tank
Culture Park, and Daegu Arts Center. Most recently, he served as the visual
director for Speed (2026) by the Seoul Metropolitan Dance
Theatre.
