Jiwon Yu

Jiwon Yu has produced sculptures, installations, and videos that trace the history and personal memories of certain sites or objects. In this exhibition, Yu presents Phantasmagoria (2023), a wall installation commissioned by the Asia Culture Center.
The title, Phantasmagoria, is a concept introduced in The Arcades Project by philosopher Walter Benjamin and is defined as “unreality,” “illusion,” “phantom,” or “a sequence of real or imaginary images.”
The work installed on the white wall prompts a renewed perception of existing space making it similar to a work of surrealist* art. Produced by tearing and ripping up a kind of architectural cardboard, the work calls to mind rubble left in the wake of a demolition. AS Yu reconstructs the fragmented space, he draws upon architectural images and materials to visualize the modern city—where architecture continues to be “mass-produced” then “scrapped.” Architecture endlessly breeds new spaces, but spaces newly constructed through this productive process are destined for the dialectic fate of obsoletion as soon as they are created.
The buildings take on a property similar to that of commercial products being purchased and discarded on a daily basis. In the capitalist world where consumerism pervades, the line between commercial products and works of architecture—and even contemporary art—are becoming more and more blurred. This causes identity confusion in us consumers, as we find ourselves questioning from time to time whether we’re agents of consumption or products unto ourselves.
Through this fragmented image, Yu seeks to create a teum in the viewer’s perception. As soon as viewers are faced with the phantom-like sequence of images on the wall, a teum is created through which visual shock is delivered, as if to awaken viewers from a surreal and confusing dream. The artist proposes that viewers recollect the pieces of their life—personal memories and scents that are now forgotten in the wakes of a rapidly evolving urban environment. Offering an opportunity to critically reflect on the ruins of reality, this work empowers viewers to reconstruct the histories and values inherent in their life.
* Surrealist art uses objects as visual devices, exploring fetishism by decontextualizing objects or using them in a way that deviates from their original purpose.