Swipe

Shrouded in red clouds, "Matergia" Aiden feels an inexplicable pull to seek out areas of concentrated magical energy. Interrupted by a sound of deep breathing, Aiden discovers a radiating residue of magical energy flowing into a portal. As he slowly approaches the portal's undulating structure, light flashes and pulls him in closer, and myriads of graphics envelop his body.

The unknown world was a dangerous place with an unstable merge of "Matergia"'s magic, but it unfolded itself more beautifully than ever. Feeling a breeze brush against his body, Aiden wanders through labyrinthine paths and follows the shining lights and shadows into a dazzling space. The graphics that appear like paintings blend seamlessly into the environment.

Aiden begins running through the endless path. The moment he runs fastest, he spots a mysterious light. It was not like anything he had ever seen. The light was not shining on its own. Shuffling dimensions and time, the light did not belong anywhere, as if it did not exist. With rising curiosity, Aiden decides to follow the light.

Aiden traveled through ever-changing sceneries of the universe inside the light. Time and space were distorted at the edge of infinite space. Within this labyrinth, he witnessed the shape of the universe of unknown beginning and end.

He spoke to himself, "All of this is glorious. This endlessly spreading universe is my mind's will to express the beautiful world. To embody the universe is to feel its light and power with my own hands."

When Aiden reached a point he could go no further, he saw in a flash of light a formless object, a fusion of energy and mass. Wondering what it was, Aiden carefully examined and realized that it was composed of glowing fragments that emit a variety of colors.

The fragments seemed to hold the inexplicable energy of the universe. As if they were breathing with a force of life, Aiden felt each one vibrating stronger.

Soon, Aiden was absorbed into the fragments and felt himself falling down the depth of an abyss.

**『SWIPE』 Sangso Kim, Diha Sin, Chunkook Lee, Joy 23. 4. 14. ****–**5. 4.

In preparation for the exhibition, the short fantasy fiction was created by organizing the current interests of the participating artists into keywords and working with the help of an interactive artificial intelligence chat GPT.

The keywords are the following: hands, character, graphic, light, universe, energy, painting, sculpture

The story was generated with feedback based on these keywords. Even when provided with texts vaguely relevant, the AI analyzes data about the subject and predicts the next word or sentence after collecting a massive amount of information. The narrative resulted to be unexpectedly persuasive, and this generous system even created characters that match the storyline and recommended appropriate names for the characters (It suggested that the name Aiden is suitable for a spiritual character in stories with fantasy worldview.) We live in an age with a massive flow of information, and the development of technology is changing the form of new things at an inhumanly fast pace. The problem is that this can be accessed with the flick of a finger, arousing a sense of futility in those who dream of a magical moment in their individual journeys.

Each creator continues to make their own visual choices. They adapt to new environments by respecting the reaction between the work and themselves, and navigate through unplanned coincidences among heaps of indistinguishable images through analysis. And they repeat the journey over and over from groping about in the dark to reach a harmonious, glowing moment. Perhaps this process resembles the way Aiden becomes aware of his will to capture the beautiful world and explores the unknown space. This exhibition springs from curiosity about what kind of illusions and reactions are being created in this age where various data are floating and interacting simultaneously.

Sangso Kim confirms the expansion of the cognitive realm in situations with excessive data and delivers his messages through form and attitude in blurred boundaries of information and hypothesis.

Diha Sin examines the organic world of nature through the 'wood wide web' and presents its strange life force as a separate ecosystem.

Chunkook Lee focuses on the process of carrying images of digital media into reality and re-formatting them into tactile mediums.

Joy Kim records subject matters that can be sensed and experienced and explores moments of time by gradually giving shape to traces of the subject and unfolding a non-linear narrative.

We hope that the exhibition will provide you the opportunity to consider how useful information is extracted strategically from various fields, how carefully created images move, and how the accompanying problems are being translated.

Wishing that you will leave with a sense of freedom and excitement of having found a new portal.

Chunkook Lee

Press release courtesy THEO.