Geist in the Exhibition

‘Geist in the Exhibition’ focuses on reflective materials such as mirrors and water, presenting works about the “space” and “time” in which images are reflected, and the “photographer” who produces such reflections.

Sometimes at evening there's a face that sees us from the deeps of a mirror. Art must be that sort of mirror, disclosing to each of us his face.

Jorge Luis Borges, Arte Poética (The Art of Poetry)

Geist in the Exhibition, focusing on reflective materials, such as mirrors and water, presents three types of works that explore the “space” and “time” where images are reflected, and the “photographer” who creates these reflections. In this context, the object printed on the reflective surface represents the “gaze” of the artist, the “photographer,” with Geist metaphorically embodying her gaze.

When photographing the reflective surface directly, the photographer inevitably appears within the camera’s angle, yet she is not visible in the final image. Logically, such images are impossible
to capture by a camera, a mechanical device, and are instead reproduced as illusions. However, reinstalling these photographic results in the same space, I believe, can transcend the limitations of photography as a mere record, offering an opportunity to trace the artist’s point of view in real time.

Thus, the viewer entering the exhibition is placed within the artist’s gaze. By positioning himself in front of the reflective surface, the viewer becomes the present subject of the photograph. Therefore, it is the “viewer here and now” who encounters the actual objects in the exhibition, but he also confronts himself, standing as a subject within the gaze of the photographer. Geist once again evokes both past and present moments, where the photographer’s gaze and the viewer caught in that gaze meet as a single subject. From this perspective, the artist’s gaze, which shapes the exhibition, becomes a frame in which past and present are layered, or objectified through a delayed time where the object is absent.

The works reflects the artist’s intention that the work is only completed through the viewer’s encounter within the exhibition space. Consequently, the “Geist” in the exhibition includes the artist, the subject, and the viewer. Moving beyond traditional photography exhibitions, this installation work combines photography with the exhibition space to expand the realm of viewing into one of discovery and experience. This approach allows the viewer, rather than merely observing a pre-existing record,
to engage and participate in the work, experiencing images as they change in real time, and finding themselves positioned between the photographer and the photographed.

work 1 : Primal Selfie 2 (N.1~15), 2024,UV print on mirror, 60 x 60cm,(15ea) 

work 2: Installation view_Geist in the exhibition, 2024, UV print on gold acrylic mirror, 178.5 x 88.5cm (set of 12)