Moon Kyungwon & Jeon Joonho, 'To Build a Fire,' 2022, color video with lighting, sound and kinetic blinds connected by DMX program, duration: 15 min. Photo by CJYART STUDIO (Cho Junyong)Art Sonje Center presents artist duo Moon Kyungwon & Jeon Joonho’s solo exhibition “Seoul Weather Station” through November 27.
Moon Kyungwon & Jeon Joonho use their artistic imagination to unfold issues surrounding the world’s rapidly changing environment at “Seoul Weather Station”. Humans have long viewed nature as a subject of dominance. In “Seoul Weather Station,” the two artists abandon a human-centered point of view to see nature from a “non-human” perspective. The duo collaborated with experts from various fields to approach the issue of abnormal weather conditions and natural disasters from various angles and present the exhibition as a temporary “weather observatory” that envisions an alternative future.
At the exhibition, Spot, a four-legged walking robot, guides visitors to a multimedia installation titled To Build a Fire (2022). Spot not only has vision, sound, and temperature sensors and cameras, but it also has carbon measurement devices for measuring carbon throughout the exhibition hall. The new installation work unravels the story of the world from a stone’s perspective, which is written by artificial intelligence.
Mobile Agora: Seoul Weather Station (2022) on the third floor touches on the issue of climate change more directly. The duo brought together various experts to present design solutions that could be used in extreme climatic conditions. In the exhibition, an artificial “super lung” designed to survive apnea based on the respiratory system of birds and an urban model “I-City/We-City” that can survive sea-level rise are presented. These works are meant to provide an opportunity to contemplate the natural disaster situation.
This exhibition is part of the World Weather Network (WWN) project, launched by twenty-eight arts organizations in response to the global climate emergency.
The two artists, who have been working as a duo since 2009, have questioned the essential meaning and role of contemporary art in a rapidly changing modern society and have been examining the various contradictions and ambivalences that occur between reality and art. The duo creates exhibitions that bring together various forms of work and activities, such as videos, installations, archives, publications, and interdisciplinary research and workshops. They also collaborate with experts in various fields, such as design, science, philosophy, economics, and politics. Their representative work, NEWS FROM NOWHERE, is a project that started at the 13th Kassel documenta in 2012 and has been touring various cities, including Chicago, Zurich, Japan, and Seoul.
