ARTISTS
The Unboxing Project
Various Small Fires (VSF) proudly presents the fourth edition of THE UNBOXING PROJECT, an iterative curatorial project by Hyunjoo Byeon and Minjin Chae started in 2022. This exhibition brings together some of the most well-known and emerging voices in Korean contemporary art and is the American debut for many. In total, twenty-eight artists between the ages of thirty-three and eighty-nine made work for this project in response to a single prompt by the curators.
Before conceiving their individual work for the exhibition, each artist received an identical (11.5 in x 11.5 in) wall mounted pedestal from the curators, each packed in an identical box, also intended to house the entirety of the work. As a prompt, they were encouraged to approach the confines of the plinth as an autonomous exhibition space. The resulting works are diverse in material and formal approach as well as scale - despite the fact that the primary constraint for the project inherently limits their size.
Several works in The Unboxing Project are deeply rooted in personal and collective memory around their Korean identity. Choong Sup Lim, having moved from Jincheon, Korea to New York, projects his 鈥渋n-between鈥� identity by utilizing the sparrow in his work, identifying with the bird that adapts to urban environments by altering its communication to higher octaves. Kim Yun Shin employs birch wood sourced from Yanggoo, Korea, near her hometown in North Korea, to thread the needle between nature and a personal art practice.
Meekyoung Shin鈥檚 Toilet Project invites viewers to engage with sculptures that have been cast in soap and placed in museum restrooms for visitors to use. Transformed through human interaction, these objects are exhibited as new artifacts, blurring the boundaries between art and functional objects.
Gwon Osang and Jong Oh use the sculptural qualities of the pedestal to deconstruct its individual elements. Gwon constructs three-dimensional forms from two-dimensional photographs, generating spatial complexity from flat imagery. Jong Oh uses flexible materials like thread to craft minimalist works that engage directly with their surroundings. In this exhibition, Oh introduces mirrors into his work for the first time, transforming the viewer鈥檚 perception and engagement with space.
Yeesookyung鈥檚 Translated Vase series redefines conventional ideas perfection by assembling broken shards of Korean pottery that failed to meet traditional standards. Her meticulous reconstruction of these fragments with gold caulking argues for new systems of value.
Ultimately, the twenty-eight pedestals presented in this exhibition serve as a unifying framework to highlight the rich multiplicity of experiences and interactions that occur from studio to studio.
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Various Small Fires (VSF) proudly presents the fourth edition of THE UNBOXING PROJECT, an iterative curatorial project by Hyunjoo Byeon and Minjin Chae started in 2022. This exhibition brings together some of the most well-known and emerging voices in Korean contemporary art and is the American debut for many. In total, twenty-eight artists between the ages of thirty-three and eighty-nine made work for this project in response to a single prompt by the curators.
Before conceiving their individual work for the exhibition, each artist received an identical (11.5 in x 11.5 in) wall mounted pedestal from the curators, each packed in an identical box, also intended to house the entirety of the work. As a prompt, they were encouraged to approach the confines of the plinth as an autonomous exhibition space. The resulting works are diverse in material and formal approach as well as scale - despite the fact that the primary constraint for the project inherently limits their size.
Several works in The Unboxing Project are deeply rooted in personal and collective memory around their Korean identity. Choong Sup Lim, having moved from Jincheon, Korea to New York, projects his 鈥渋n-between鈥� identity by utilizing the sparrow in his work, identifying with the bird that adapts to urban environments by altering its communication to higher octaves. Kim Yun Shin employs birch wood sourced from Yanggoo, Korea, near her hometown in North Korea, to thread the needle between nature and a personal art practice.
Meekyoung Shin鈥檚 Toilet Project invites viewers to engage with sculptures that have been cast in soap and placed in museum restrooms for visitors to use. Transformed through human interaction, these objects are exhibited as new artifacts, blurring the boundaries between art and functional objects.
Gwon Osang and Jong Oh use the sculptural qualities of the pedestal to deconstruct its individual elements. Gwon constructs three-dimensional forms from two-dimensional photographs, generating spatial complexity from flat imagery. Jong Oh uses flexible materials like thread to craft minimalist works that engage directly with their surroundings. In this exhibition, Oh introduces mirrors into his work for the first time, transforming the viewer鈥檚 perception and engagement with space.
Yeesookyung鈥檚 Translated Vase series redefines conventional ideas perfection by assembling broken shards of Korean pottery that failed to meet traditional standards. Her meticulous reconstruction of these fragments with gold caulking argues for new systems of value.
Ultimately, the twenty-eight pedestals presented in this exhibition serve as a unifying framework to highlight the rich multiplicity of experiences and interactions that occur from studio to studio.
