Yohan Han Biography

Yohan Han is a visual artist who creates performance, installation, and media works themed around movement, gesture, and bodily communication. He explores the drum, an ancient means of communication and embodiment, by filling it and studying the colors applied to its surface to create sculptural works and direct performance choreography, thereby probing into the fundamental subjectivity and physical elements of humans. In exhibition spaces, he conducts performances with real-time open chat rooms, setting various audience spaces and posing significant questions about body language, mediation, senses, and networks. Born in France in 1983, Yohan Han currently works based in Seoul, South Korea. He graduated with a Master's degree in Plastic Arts from Pantheon-Sorbonne University, Paris I in 2016 and received a national diploma of plastic arts from the École Nationale Supérieure d'Arts de Paris-Cergy in 2019.

Major Works

Drum Filling Series

Yohan Han creates drums that sometimes resemble shaped canvases, a traditional percussion instrument. Unlike paintings that are fixed to a wall and visually presented to the audience, the drum encompasses not only sound but also the possibility of resonance transmitted through the movement of the body that strikes it. The amalgamation of ancient and modern, a more active interaction between the work and the audience, and the unique human sensations that can be experienced are major themes that Yohan Han explores and experiments with.

Performances

Yohan Han's performances typically feature choreography that operates in conjunction with sculptural installations or media. In the performance presented at Gallery Chosun in 2019 titled "Inside Resonance," performers and the audience 'resonate' with each other. Starting with the spatial conditions of the gallery, the performer initiates movement and converses with the audience via a smartphone throughout the performance. The audience oscillates between the sensations originating from the performer's body and the clusters of words generated on the screen.

Awards and Selections

Yohan Han has participated in residency programs such as La Générale Residency (Paris, 2016), Cheongju Art Studio (Cheongju, 2019-2020), Kumho Art Studio (Icheon, 2020-2021), MMCA Goyang Residency (Goyang, 2022), Instiut français x Cité des Arts, Paris International Art Collective Residency (Paris, 2023), and Centre Clark, MMCA Goyang Residency International Exchange Residency (Montreal, 2023). He has been selected for the Nuit Blanche projet off, production support (Paris, 2016), Nuit de la création, production support (Versailles, 2017), visual arts support (Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, Seoul, 2020), overseas planned exhibition support (Arts Management Support Center, Seoul, 2022), Surim Art Lab (Surim Cultural Foundation, 2022), overseas residency support (Arts Council Korea, 2023), and more.

Exhibitions

His major solo exhibitions include "Fɔ.ʁɔm - union for another chronicle" (Soorim Cube, Seoul, 2023), "Momsalpuli" (Parliament gallery, Paris, 2022), "Méné Méné Tekel Upharsin" (Soorim Art Center, Seoul, 2022), "Protos Indigenous" (Philosopher's Stone, Seoul, 2022), "The Principle of Resonance" (Art Space Boan, Seoul, 2021), "Inside Resonance" (Gallery Chosun, Seoul, 2019), "Routine" (Atelier Rhème, Paris, 2017), and more. His major group exhibitions include "From Eusemina to the Earth" (Seoul Art Space Mullae, Seoul, 2023), "Là où nos mondes se touchent" (Cité internationale des Arts residency open studio group show by Institut français X Cité des Arts, Paris, 2023), "Iridescent" (MMCA Goyang residency open studio group show, Goyang, 2022), "Young Korean Artists" (National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, 2021), "Triple Rings" (Seoul Culture Station 284, Seoul, 2021), "Where all places are" (Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul, 2021), "Media Symphony" (Cheongju Museum of Art, Cheongju, 2020), "Futuring Night" (Espace Cinko, Paris, 2017), "(In)visibility" (Nuit Blanche projet off, Sainte-Clotilde Cathedral, Paris, 2017), and more. In addition, he has conducted performances and projects such as "Reflection(0 paths 0) for an open screen" (MMCA Cheongju Multidisciplinary Art Project Relay Performance, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Cheongju, 2023), "Threading–Siwolsangdal" (Performance associated with the exhibition From YOU SEMINAR TO THE EARTH, curated by independent curator Heejin HONG, Seoul Art Space Mullae, Seoul, 2023), "Méné Méné Tekel Upharsin" (Performance associated with the exhibition, Soorim Art Center, Seoul, 2022), "The Dialogues" (Performance associated with the Young Exploration exhibition, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, 2021), "Thread sequence #2" (Nuit Blanche parcours Nuit de la Création (Ecole des Beaux–Arts de Versailles, Versailles, 2017), "Thread" (Performance associated with Museum Live#5, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2017), "(In)visibility" (Performance associated with Nuit Blanche projet off, Sainte-Clotilde Cathedral, Paris, 2016), and more.

Text courtesy Gallery Chosun.