Generation that Generates: as above / so below

as above / so below showcases the works of three artists from MediaSonyo (미디어소녀), a Korean media artist community galvanized in the accelerated environment of Seoul’s art and tech community. Operating since 2020, MediaSonyo provides a space for women working across media by providing networks, knowledge exchange and lineages of support. For Libby Leshgold Gallery, artists Seohyo, Sey Min and Yaloo delve into the intricate relationships between ideas generation and the generative computational processes that animate their practice.

The phrase “as above / so below” originates from Hermeticism, a philosophical and mystical tradition that emphasizes the correspondence between different levels of reality. It suggests that what happens on one level is mirrored and layered on another. This concept, traditionally imagined as a relationship between the celestial/spiritual and an earthly existence, is explored in the exhibition through relationships between the visual and the physical, the ethereal and the earthly, the micro and the macro, beginning and flourishing. The artists expand these dualities through works that interpret individual patterns and the influence of larger, collective dynamics – and where they intersect and coalesce with digital technologies.

as above / so below presumes an embodied viewership. Using spatial design as a conduit for the interpretation of data, the exhibition invites us to sense (as opposed to see) a profound generation of content and ideas.

This exhibition is the second of an ongoing series of projects by Mediasonyo, collected under the title Generation that Generates.

Public Programs:

Opening Reception
September 12, 6-9pm

Panel Discussion: Sey Min, Seohyo and Yaloo
September 13, 4pm

Talk: Ben Evans James
September 26th, 6pm
Libby Leshgold Gallery

Talk: Celine Wong Katzman
November 7th, 6pm
Online
Please see libby.ecuad.ca for registration information.

Artist Bios

Seohyo is an artist and programmer based in Seoul. Her installation and performance works combine everyday objects with media technology to render them unfamiliar, allowing viewers to perceive ordinary things in new ways. Seohyo teaches media literacy education programs with a focus on exploring the possibilities of coding through Creative Computation. During the pandemic, she expanded her daily coding practice to generative art, which began as a way to connect with others online. These works have since been featured on urban billboards at the Korea National Museum of History (Seoul), Kerry Center (Hangzhou), Ten Square (Singapore), Hoog Catharijne (Utrecht), Ebisu Garden (Tokyo), and Incheon International Airport. She has taken part in events such as Demo Festival (2022), D:Art Festival (2022), the Asia Triennial Manchester (2011), the Gwangju Design Biennale (2007), and SIGGRAPH (2006).

Sey Min is a visual media artist who creates digital art using data and AI, to explore new forms of realism through data visualization and AI-generated imagery. Her recent projects have experimented with the content-ification of everyday data through AI. For one project Sey transformed Seoul's daily expenditure data into AI-generated stories that were automatically livestreamed on X. She holds a master's degree from Pratt Institute, and was a researcher at the MIT Senseable City Lab. She has collaborated with SKT, Intel USA, VICE, and Google, and has been featured on TEDx (2011, 2012), CNN Asia, and the MOMA blog. She has exhibited at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Media City Seoul, NeurIPS, ZKM, and Google Art & Culture. She has also taught at Sogang University, directed SeoulLight festival (2019), developed Praxis.ai, and was 10th president of Gyeonggi Content Agency.

Yaloo is a South Korean visual artist working with digital media. She holds a BFA and MFA in video art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Yaloo is the recipient of international residencies at Zer01ne and Asia Culture Center (Korea), the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum (Japan), Western Front (Canada), La Bande Video (Canada), Headlands Art Center (USA), Bemis Studio Art Center (USA), and Pier 2 Art Center (Taiwan). She has participated in numerous exhibitions and screenings around the world. Yaloo was awarded a Lyn Blumenthal Memorial Scholarship by Video Data Bank and won a Gold Prize in visual arts from the AHL Foundation in New York. She was awarded the Gyeonggi MoMA & IBK Young Artists Award and 1st H/ART AveNEW New Media Art competition in 2023. She recently completed a solo exhibition at Gyeonggi Museum of Art (Korea). Yaloo is faculty in the department of Experimental Animation, School of Film/Video, at California Institute of the Arts.

The Libby Leshgold Gallery respectfully acknowledges that we are located on the unceded, traditional and ancestral xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) territories.

Korean Press Release MediaSonyo Exhibition Brochure

For further information please contact the Libby Leshgold Gallery.