Ji Hye Yeom

SHOW: All Moving Images Studies for Images

The Midday Symptoms
한낮의 징후
2024
Moving Image
17min
Commissioned by Buk-Seoul Museum of Art, Korea

Human civilization, seemingly at its zenith, is as precarious as a wing of wax melting in the midday sun. The blue crayfish, the symptomatic animal, wakes from a sleepless dream. The sky is barren, and intense sunlight pierces the surface like an arrow. The crayfish's wrinkled stomach twists and turns. This is how my midday symptoms begin, and it's quite uncomfortable. Throughout the day, it is plagued by strange symptoms. It tries to fight it, but eventually falls deeper. It falls into the belly of a primeval jungle. It can't measure the size of the universe, but in this moment, it seems to know the truth of the universe. It thinks about how to live in the guts of the earth. It goes through many thoughts, and wonders whether it should be a mannerist, an accelerator, a handstand, or a decompositionist. It decides to be a handstander. After failing to molt, the blue crayfish swims through the empty space of the ocean. “Good luck. All of us.”

The Last Night
마지막 밤
2024
Moving Image
25min
Commissioned by Buk-Seoul Museum of Art, and Supported by Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, Korea

“What if this is the last night of the world?”
by John Donne

You rub your sleepy eyes, trying to stay awake, but your heavy eyelids are easily covered. The question, which seems to burst forth at the last moment of desperation, when it seems that if you close your eyes now, you will never open them again, reads as a deep sigh and a trace of bewilderment in the face of the many ironies of today. As most would agree, the pandemic has exacerbated what was already wrong with the world and brought it to the surface. The symptoms of lethargy and panic seem like signs of the times, as if we are accelerating at a dizzying pace to regain lost time for growth, or as if there is no hope for the world anymore. The Last Night is a gritty portrait of the last night under the pressure of staying awake in a time of lingering disaster. If today is indeed the last night, how do we seize the passing time?

CyborgHandstanderus's Nose
사이보그핸드스탠더러스의 코
2021
Moving image
19min 10sec
Commissioned by Arko Art Center, Korea

CyborgHandstanderus is a nexus of the cyborg, trapped in the conventional image of post-humans, and Handstanderus, who attempts a new way of contemplation through plants. This work talks about an amalgamation—interweaving and fusion—of machines, animals, and plants, things, which seem unlikely to blend in. It is not just an apocalyptic alarming message against a new species. Instead, it looks at CyborgHandstanderus and their attributes—especially the sense of smell, which has been overlooked in the history of the senses. By doing so, this work imagines the form and matter of a species that will exist in the time that will soon arrive, acknowledges the most basic behavior to sustain life—breathing—and inhales the power of the smell.

Black Sun X : Casper, Witch, and Handstanderus
검은 태양 X : 캐스퍼, 마녀,
그리고 물구나무종
2021
Moving image
19min
Commissioned by National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Korea

Black Sun X : Casper, Witch, and Handstanderus traces the trajectory of catastrophes from their nascence to the present. It weaves together fragments of loosely connected narratives under 'Black Sun X' that implies constantly swelling catastrophes. This work consists of three narratives; Casper who was a beloved comic character in popular culture, Witch-hunt that occurred during the transition period between feudalism and capitalism after the wake of Black Death (and still remains in today's disturbing situation), and 'Handstanderus' who is a group of people trying to find new ways of thinking through plants.

Symbioplot
심바이오플롯
2020
Moving image
20min
Commissioned by Soorim Cultural Foundation, and Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Korea

Symbioplot reconstructs a plot for catastrophe with the discovery of a symbiotic power that connects all life on earth. This work unfolds a myriad of stories that are entangled, intertwined, and caught up around symbiosis, coevolution and the narrative of catastrophe. For example, it amalgamates seemingly unrelated stories such as the history of coexistence between cells and mitochondria, the relationship among humans, dogs and livestock, the traces of how life on earth mutated in order to adapt to the environment, and a dialogue between an artist and an environmental engineer.

AI Octopus
에이아이 옥토퍼스
2020
Moving image
16min 35sec
Commissioned by The Asia Culture Center (ACC), Korea

If human species can learn tentacle acuity, bio-sympathy, and wisdom from the octopus, wouldn't we feel pains caused by anthropocentric thinking in a different way? AI is usually considered artificial intelligence, but in the title of AI Octopus, AI here means alternative intelligence, that could be deviating from brain-centered thinking. This work imagines what if the octopuses evolve their own intelligence further, make Octoficial Intelligence (octopus-like intelligence created by octopus) and visit the time and space we live in, then what could they tell us?

Le Soleil Noir
검은 태양
2019
Moving image
13min 31sec
Supported by Art Council Korea, and Korea Polar Research Institute (Kopri), Korea

Le Soleil Noir(Black Sun) is about the balance and cracks of a relationship. Control on nature and its instability, the control on human relationships and its failures are on the surface, but on the other side, it implies the power of science, its sanctuarification, and doubt on inertial faith. Using videos taken from visit to Antarctic King Sejong Station as the main footage, it reveals that the Antarctic, where only scientific activities are allowed, is actually a political space where many different interests are involved.

Future Fever
미래열병
2018
Moving image
17min 10sec
Commissioned by National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Korea

Italian Futurists rejected all existing ideas and tried to become more aggressive and avant-garde when entering the future. This attitude resonated with the purpose of Fascism at the time, which was about ‘new people, making a new society’. Futurism eventually came closer to Fascism. Just as history repeats itself, society today seems to be afflicted with the contemporary epidemic called ‘future fever’, a fervent belief that progress can only be achieved by staying ahead of others in the high-tech race. In the turbulence of rising tension, it throws the question: Where exactly are we headed now?

Current Layers
심바이오플롯
2017
Moving image
25min 30sec

The word ‘layer’ contains the meaning of the crust of the Earth, a part of a system, and a layer that covers several surfaces. ‘Current Layer’ can be simply translated as a present surface; however, it could also be called a widely prevalent phenomenon at a specific time and place. This work consists of three chapters: The Chronological Study on Earth, The Form of a Plastiglomeratic Life, and The Manner of a Photoshopping Life.

They Come. Swiftly, Stealthily
그들이 온다. 은밀하게 빠르게
2016
Moving Image
15min 15sec
Supported by SongEun Art and Cultural Foundation

Questioning the inadequate crisis response of the nationwide outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in the spring of 2015, They Come, Swiftly, Stealthily examines how virus is merely perceived as a harmful, invisible and intangible 'thing', in spite of the fact that the virus is the entity of indispensable to our life and the process of evolution. It is the invisible yet very real entities whose confusion caused at times are instigated and exaggerated by rumors and the media.