×

Subscribe to our newsletter

Highlights From the Previous Week, Partnered Events and Haikus. View our Newsletter archive

Koo Hyunmo’s Anthropocene Art

The South Korean artist is showcasing Acquired Nature, a solo show in Seoul’s PKM Gallery focused on the divisions between the natural and the artificial

Scroll right to read more ›
Text by Rab Messina
Photography by courtesy of the artist and PKM Gallery

Koo Hyunmo’s latest pieces are, self-admittedly, post-humanist. The South Korean artist has weaved together the artificial production of humanity with the flag bearers of nature –the wind, the clouds, that round satellite— and now, in his latest solo show for Seoul’s PKM Gallery, has grouped them under the umbrella of Acquired Nature.

These pieces are bent on blurring the boundaries between public and private, inside and outside, but most importantly, artificial and natural. Koo is interested in what happens to our concept of nature once the Anthropocene starts irreversibly tilting our relationship with the things that were here before humanity.

He ends up with a sample of pieces that are artificial, but not unnatural –hence the title of the show—that question whether the distinction between the natural and the manmade is still valid today.

“In this scenario, manmade objects actually become nature in daily life,” Koo explained.

Acquired Nature is on display until August 3

koo hyunmo
Object (2018)

Cover image:
Cloud (2016-2018)
koo hyunmo
Cicada (2018)
koo hyunmo
House (2016)
koo hyunmo
Lazy Stone (2018)
koo hyunmo
Zelkova (2016)
koo hyunmo
Rocking Moon (2018)
Back

Articles you also might like