Soyon Jung

Work

Exhibitions

Text

Ideal worlds can be thought forwards and backwards. There are forward-facing utopias, and there is such a thing as retrotopias, idealizations of the past as strongholds of “the good old days.” Soyon Jung’s images lead us in both directions. They are premonitions of the future – told in the past tense of ruined landscapes. Since the romantic era, we have associated images of ruins with a retrospective longing. From the second half of the 18th century, fantastical ruins made constructors dream of the pre-industrial middle ages. In contrast to pristine replicas, their decidedly ruinous nature was intended to make the past tangible and thus root them in a history that had never existed in this painterly form. Jung’s etchings resist such a romanticized interpretation. In her case, it is not just buildings that are overgrown and seem to gradually dissolve; any realism in her images, produced by lines, disintegrates eventually. The apparent romantic idealism is counteracted by the occasionally aggressive internal dynamic of her line work, which calls to mind the abstraction movement of the 20th century and the attempt to free itself of any historical references or content. As such, the images defend themselves against interpretations that would too quickly reduce them to either motif or concept. In the end what triumphs in her images is the autonomy of the line – the rest is just a series of possible things that have been.

Soyon Jung (born 1982 in Gwangju, South Korea) combines classical etching with digital printing techniques, video and 3D photography. She studied in Seoul and Hamburg, where she now lives and works.

Vita

1982

Soyon Jung is born in Gwangju, South Korea (She lives in Hamburg)

2002—2006

Studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul

2007—2014

Studies at HFBK University of Fine Arts Hamburg with Haegue Yang and Jutta Koether

2013

Recipient of a merit scholarship for overseas students

2016

Awarded the Marktplatz-Druckgrafik-Prize

2020

Awarded the Poolhaus-Prize for young art

Scholarship for artists granted by the Art Funds Foundation and Neustart Kultur

2021

Scholarship for artists Hamburger Zukunftsstipendien granted by the Behörde für Kultur und Medien

Travel grant for visual artists Dresden 2021

Work grant for visual arts of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg

Selected Solo Shows

2021

Aushungern und demoralisieren – Jahn und Jahn, Munich

Selected Group Shows

2024

Politics of Love – Kunsthaus Hamburg

2023

The Conservative Joy – Briefing Room, Brussels

2022

The Hallucinated Countryside – Briefing Room, Brussels

Work grant for visual arts of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg 2020/2021 – Deichtorhallen, Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg

(doch noch) einige Gegenwartstrümmer, Part 1: Death Hoax II – Kunstverein Langenhagen, Langenhagen

Nie wieder Gegenwart (with Steffen Zillig) – Kunstverein Langenhagen, Langenhagen

Transitions – Frappant Galerie, Hamburg

2021

Nominees – Kunsthaus Hamburg, Hamburg

2020

Die angstvolle Reise III – Lichthof, Out for Art, Lübeck

Die Welt ist Ganz – Galerie Melike Bilir, Hamburg

Future II – Poolhaus, Hamburg

2019

Computer und Papier – Jahn und Jahn, Munich

Framed Bodies // Fluid Imaginations – Alte Holstenbrauerei, Neumünster

Public Relations – Palace of Contemporary Art, Glückstadt

Begegnung – MARKK Museum at the Rothenbaum - Cultures and Arts of the World, Hamburg

Death Hoax – Westwerk, Hamburg

2018

InterCity # 2 Toxischer Sommer – Exhibition at a magazine release, Atelier Alex, Berlin

2016

Marktplatz-Druckgrafik-Prize Exhibition – Leipzig Book Fair, Leipzig

2015

Multitude – Galerie Melike Bilir, Hamburg

Local Affinities – FRISE-Künstlerhaus, Hamburg

Don‘t Touch / Touch Screen – KunstWerke, Berlin

2013

To beginn is to be half done – Davin Art Space, Busan, South Korea

2012

Past pro toto – Gallery of HFBK University of Fine Arts, Hamburg

2011

Machine-RAUM Festival for Video Art and Digital Culture, Vejle, Denmark

2010

Hamburger Hefte – Gallery of the College for Fine Arts in Kassel

2009

Strangeloop – Galerie Genscher, Hamburg