ILLUMINATION ARTIST NOTE

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ILLUMINATION is my first solo exhibition in France, organized by the Korean Cultural Center in France in partnership with the Fondation Fiminco, on the occasion of the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and France. Presented at La Chaufferie—Fondation Fiminco’s monumental post-industrial space in Romainville’s FAST cultural district—the exhibition brings together immersive installations, moving image, sound, and drawing.

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In 2026, as artificial intelligence rapidly reshapes our world, I felt it essential to place AI at the center of this exhibition. I am an artist and an engineering university professor, and my practice has long explored the intersection of technology and art. In the context of this anniversary, I wanted to create a dialogue between Korea’s dynamic engagement with technology and France’s tradition of philosophical critique.

The title ILLUMINATION carries a double meaning. It suggests enlightenment and awakening, but also the act of exposing what remains hidden. Through three interconnected installations, I explore both the radiance and the shadows of the AI era: the collective anxiety it produces, the systems that polarize our perceptions, and the possibility of a more entangled relationship between humans and technology.

The journey begins with GREAT ANXIETY, a large-scale audio-visual-kinetic installation on the first floor. I conceived this work as an architectural reflection on the unease surrounding AI. Woven from metallic film, it responds to light and sound to create a “Data Atmosphere.” By illuminating both technological progress and the alienation it can produce, I seek to show that anxiety around AI is not simply personal—it has become a collective social condition.

On the second floor, ECHO CHAMBER invites visitors to experience how such anxiety is amplified through polarized digital discourse. In dialogue with a chatbot, visitors are compelled to align with one of two opposing perspectives. Within this system, where nuance and diversity are erased, I invite them to seek an exit and reclaim their own agency.

In a darkened room nearby, ENTANGLEMENT proposes another possibility. I question whether our fear of AI stems from a binary desire to separate and control the human and the machine. In an immersive video environment where quantum computing and neural networks intertwine, visitors move among translucent screens and encounter the organic entanglement of all existence. I suggest that when technology is no longer treated as an “other,” anxiety may begin to transform into coexistence and co-evolution.

Together, these works activate La Chaufferie as more than a venue. Its industrial scale, light, sound, and spatial depth become part of the exhibition itself. The journey moves from confronting AI-driven fear, through the structures that polarize perception, toward an inseparable network of connections. Ultimately, ILLUMINATION asks us to consider that the direction and meaning of technological progress depend on human reflection, responsibility, and agency.