London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Geumhyung Jeong: Private Collection — Unperformed Objects, at Delfina Foundation

As part of the UK-Korea cultural season, Geumhyung Jeong has a solo show at the Delfina Foundation (following on with her residency there earlier this year) along with performances at Tate Modern.

Geumhyung Jeong: Private Collection — Unperformed Objects

Delfina Foundation | 29-31 Catherine Place | London SW1E 6DY
28 September – 11 November 2017 | Mon – Sat, 10:00 – 18:00
Private view: 27th September, 18:30 – 21:00
Ticketed live performances at Tate: Tuesday, 3rd October at 17:30 and Thursday, 5th October at 19:00

Geumhyung Jeong
Geumhyung Jeong. Photo: Tae Hwan Kim

Delfina Foundation is delighted to present Private Collection: Unperformed Objects, the first UK solo exhibition by South Korean artist Geumhyung Jeong. In her practice as choreographer, dancer and performer, Jeong constantly renegotiates the relationship between the human body and the objects that surround it. She has built up a collection of plain everyday objects upon which she bestows a bizarre, disconcerting life through an intense and risky interaction with her own body to challenge notions of sexuality, technology and the female body.

In 2016, Jeong exhibited her complete collection at Atelier Hermes in Seoul as the recipient of the Hermès Foundation Missulsang Award. For this new installation at Delfina Foundation, emerging from a residency supported by SongEun Art & Cultural Foundation, Jeong explores the relationship between her ‘collection’ and her creative process. Jeong has selected ‘unperformed objects’ – mannequins, vacuum cleaners, training machines and medical apparatus with a latent potential. The exhibition brings the narrative of these objects themselves into play, alongside decision-making and failure in the process of making performances.

In the gallery, these objects are clinically displayed on plinths, under strip lighting. Video monitors show clips of the ‘performed objects’ not present, those modified by Jeong and activated in durational performances where they are first used in intended and routine ways before Jeong’s movements morph into erotic, obsessive, or antagonistic actions. Jeong feeds her own energy back into these inanimate objects, positing the female body as the locus of reproductive responsibility within a gendered, exploitative economy.

In this light, the ‘unperformed objects’ become a collection of relics of a notion of civilization that Jeong seeks to challenge.

Coinciding with her solo exhibition at Delfina Foundation, during Frieze Week Tate Modern will present 7ways, a solo performance by Jeong in the form of seven ‘duets’ with everyday objects that take on an unsettling life of their own. The two ticketed performances at Tate Modern punctuate a week-long free presentation of Jeong’s work in the Tanks.

Geumhyung Jeong Biography

Born in 1980, Geumhyung Jeong is a South Korea-based choreographer, dancer and performer. Jeong studied Acting at Hoseo University in Asan, Dance and Performance at the Korean National University of Arts in Seoul, and Animation Film at the Korean Academy of Film Arts in Seoul. Her works have been presented at the Atelier Hermès, Seoul; New Museum Triennial, New York; Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Zürich; Brigittines International Festival, Brussels; SPIELART Festival, Munich; ImPulsTanz Festival, Vienna; iDANS Festival, Istanbul; Contemporary Art Museum of Ujazdowski, Warsaw; Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart; PACT Zollverein, Essen; and many others. Jeong was in residence at Delfina Foundation in spring 2017 in partnership with SongEun Art & Cultural Foundation.

(automatically generated) Read LKL’s review of this event here.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.