Master of Fine Art School of Fine Art

Jiyoon Lee

Jiyoon Lee (b. 1992, South Korea) is a multidisciplinary artist who explores diverse materials related to somatic experiences in the digital sphere. The Digital Age has made a significant impact on organic, physically present, human social interaction. Using autobiographical research on this social phenomenon, she reflects upon her own daily experience with digital screen-based communication, social behaviour, and cognition in her art practice. Her artwork is mainly presented through the mediums of video/photography.
Jiyoon was selected as a resident artist at Arteles Creative Centre in Finland in 2019. More recently, Jiyoon has participated in several group shows and workshops in South Korea and the UK. She also performs as the instrumental music composer, Zhiyoon. As a musician, she has participated in the independent artist documentary film project ‘Confluence (2021)’, which was presented at the 21st Matsalu Nature Film Festival (MAFF) in Estonia in 2022.

Contact
J.Lee14@student.gsa.ac.uk
@jiyoonyi
jiyoonlee.xyz
Works
Mutual Place (2023)
Beyond the Screen (2023)
On an act of sensing (2023)

Mutual Place (2023)

2-channel video installation (13’:41’), HD monitors, Speakers, Sand, Dimension variable

Mutual Place (2023)

2-channel video installation (13’:41’),  HD monitors, Speakers, Sand, Dimension variable

The two films explore the emotional bond between Jiyoon and her sister, despite long distance, using somatic performance inspired by ambulatory movement in her daily life. Jiyoon highlights the importance of the body in creating a sense of presence. Referring to French philosopher Merleau-Ponty, Body is the null point or degree zero of spatiality. Therefore, she mainly uses her body, especially the feet, in her work: this is because it is a part of the body that enables humans to sustain their presence and creates their own reference point in the world. In this project, she uses digital telepresence* (Facetime call) technology in her work to paradoxically highlight what is vanishing in our digital-focused lives, and what actually bonds people.

*The cognitive scientist Marvin Minsky coined the term ‘Telepresence’, describing the feeling of being present at a location that you are not physically in.

Beyond the Screen (2023)

Digital print on acetate and organza, Metal, Dimension variable

This project combines phenomenological elements and digital resources, using transitory features such as wind and lights. As human animals, our sensory organs: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin, give us the sensations from which we base our shared experience and understanding of the external world. Digital technology, however, has encroached upon our personal time and space, and transformed our sensorial locations into a place that has no physical interactions. Through the varied interplay of installed images, Jiyoon reconstructs the sensory memory of places.

On an act of sensing (2023)

Single channel video installation (2’24”), HD monitor, paper, PVC electrical insulation tape, Dimension variable

This video installation is a process of art practice exploring sensorial memory, drawing upon the artist’s experiences as an international resident. In the work, Jiyoon uses her somatic experience, the body and its rhythms, as the main material to understand the various systems of her new environments.