Is it possible to reduce reality to symbols? Is pop culture today made of things or non-things? We start from these questions to delve into the research of South Korean artist Hyun Cho, currently on view in Venice at Blue Gallery curated by Quadro Zero. «According to contemporary philosopher Byung-Chul Han, nonthings are reduced to information and are emptied of any affective value,» Ilaria Sponda explains in the critical text prepared for the Electric Supermoon exhibition. «The consequence of this is “infomania“, a true fetishism for information and data, which Cho crafts in her sculptural pieces.» In other words, Cho’s works – which range from sculpture to installation, with a particular focus on symbols and lettering, often made of neon and LED lights – reason on urban iconographies, ephemeral and ambiguous, to point out their illusory and paradoxical dimension. An example of how pop culture can appropriate anything and hollow it out in favor of effective, but only momentary, information is punk. Hyun Cho, who calls her approach “punk,” points out that this is the perfect example of how a subculture can be turned into a commercial product, domesticated and integrated into mass culture.
Breaking news: it’s all about capturing attention
Hyun Cho’s works therefore, particularly the three new ones presented in Venice, present a fascinating fusion of text and sculpture, transforming everyday symbols into profound statements. From these emerges the artist’s ability to fuse information and aesthetics by reproducing what is today’s universal language, captivating, attention-grabbing and even shaping our thoughts. Using words and data on LED panels, Cho creates a dynamic interaction between meaning and perception. An example is the work with the phrase Fucking Urgency that immediately captures viewers with its scrolling motion typical of breaking news, prompting them to reflect on the concept of urgency, urging them to consider both personal and collective crises.
The simulacrum as a digital memorial
The Fucking Urgent works, as well as Ask my daddy, take the form of what Ilaria Sponda calls a simulacrum, quoting Jean Baudrillard. In this context, Cho’s sculptures act as representations of reality, replacing the real with symbols. The artist’s use of symbolic tombstones under LED panels reinforces this notion, transforming physical markers into digital memorials. This method emphasizes the fragility and transience of information in the digital age, where repetition strips words of their original meaning, but at the same time invests them with new meaning through the lens of the viewer. Hyun Cho’s art transforms mundane symbols into powerful artistic expressions, forcing us to reconsider the very nature of reality and our place within it, all of us now addicted to information as true infomaniacs.
Courtesy Hyun Cho, Blue Gallery
