SUPERFLEX

Taking as their point of departure the stated aim of challenging the dominance of economics, SUPERFLEX has developed artistic projects emphasising the power of collectivity to creatively intervene in issues rooted in social, cultural, and political contexts. Expanding upon this interest, their recent projects have engaged with discourses revolving around the ‘end’ and attendant ‘futures’ brought on by the catastrophic effects of climate change. Pivoting from an ‘end’ to a “future,” this exhibition traces the contours of the economic and ecological terrains that frame the artists’ vision of alternative futures that might arise in moments of crises. This is also encapsulated in the exhibition’s title, Fish & Chips, which is a humorous combination of two motifs highlighted in the exhibition: underwater life (fish) and techno-economic transactions (microchips). Initiating a range of encounters between human and more-than-human agents, the artists provide a glimpse into their imaginary, populated by fluid ecologies as models of resistance and resilience.

Upon entering the front gallery of K1, the viewer encounters three text-based installations that respectively read: SAVE YOUR SKIN, MAKE A KILLING, and HOLD YOUR TONGUE. Taking inspiration from commercial signage found in urban landscapes, the artists repurpose idiomatic phrases into a series of light works, each consisting of an illuminated signboard made with pink LED letters mounted on an aluminium frame. Exuding an ambience of anxiety and urgency, the strident phrases signal an impending crisis while hyperbolising the human desires that underlie both the systems of language and the market. The room flooded with alarming pink light hints at a collapse of the financial systems, evoking a seductive and dystopian atmosphere.

The rear gallery of K1 presents Chips (2023–2024), the artists’ new series of monochromatic paintings of microchips appearing faintly on white canvas like afterimages on the verge of disappearance. Each painting takes the technological design of a specific portion of a microchip and transforms it into an abstract motif highlighting the invisible parts of communication networks that enable global transactions, from the transfer of money to data exchange. At one corner of the space, surrounded by paintings, is a ceramic sculpture from the ‘Investment Bank Flowerpots’ series. Modelled on the architecture of the headquarters of the global investment banks, including Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase, the flowerpots function as pots for growing hallucinogenic plants. Each work hosts a different type of plant—Peyote, San Pedro cacti, and marijuana—whose euphoric effects allegorize the toxic qualities of monetary transactions. Exhibited at Kukje Gallery is the flowerpot representing the Citigroup building which has been planted with Nerium Oleander, a poisonous plant native to Jeju Island and the southern regions of South Korea. In their critical view of commerce and market economies, the artists challenge the visible symbols of power and suggest an alternative ecosystem consisting of organic, symbiotic relationships.

Meanwhile, the presentation in K3 shifts the economic critique towards an ecological sphere by juxtaposing two works illustrating aquatic imaginaries in the face of the climate crisis on a planetary scale. Dispersed across the gallery is As Close As We Get (2024), a series of sculptures that can function as an alternative habitat for marine life in the speculative future of rising sea levels. Consisting of modular stone building blocks, the sculptures imagine underwater infrastructure that accommodates the needs of both fish and humans in an era beyond the Anthropocene. Notably, the sculptures in the current exhibition reflect the geometry of the K3 building which, according to the artists, ‘looks like a giant fishing net that has caught different geometrical shapes.’ Extending their vision of interspecies cohabitation into the two-dimensional realm, three aluminium foam ‘canvases’ from the ‘Interface Paintings’ series (2022) punctuate two walls and the ceiling of K3. Reminiscent of coral-like environments [or sea sponges] favourable for fish, these monochromes transform the surface of a painting into a three-dimensional space that serves as a dynamic meeting point between human and sea creatures.

In addition, the interactive animation Vertical Migration (2021) continues to push beyond the anthropocentric perspective by depicting the ascent of a computer-generated siphonophore, a jellyfish-like underwater life form that bears no resemblance to human beings. Anticipating a future in which humans will be migrating vertically to higher elevations as sea levels rise, the artists suggest a parallel relation between humans and marine organisms, which travel every night toward the ocean surface to feed, in their shared fate alluded to in the animation. Tracing the upward journey from the depths of the ocean, the animation’s perspective gradually shifts to offer a view of the world seen from the nonhuman perspective of the siphonophore. Originally commissioned by ART 2030 and TBA21-Academy, Vertical Migration debuted as a projection on the United Nations Secretariat Building during the 76th United Nations General Assembly.

In the interactive version of the animation installed at the gallery, the siphonophore comes closer to or retreats from the viewer based on movement in the space, bringing into relief the work’s stated aim to intimately connect the viewer to other species. Also closely attuned to the creature’s movement is the animation’s soundscape, which is played on the outside of the building as well, expanding the sonic horizon of the nonhuman perspective beyond the gallery.