Kukje Gallery is pleased to host On the Move, a comprehensive solo exhibition by acclaimed South Korean artist Hong Seung-hye at its Busan space, running from April 24 to June 14, 2026. This exhibition dynamically reimagines Hong’s artistic output across various eras through the lens of mobility, offering a multifaceted view of her evolutionary path.
The artist characterizes this presentation as a conceptual report on the movement of geometric imagery that she has meticulously developed since entering the digital realm. Her journey began in 1997 with the seminal series Organic Geometry, where she utilized the computer screen's fundamental building block—the digital pixel—to evoke an illusion of motion.
This initial experimentation gained tangible temporality and rhythm with her 2002 flash animation The Sentimental 1.
Since then, Hong has consistently expanded the scope of this kinetic energy, progressing to the choreographed pictograms of My GarageBand in 2016 set to her own digital compositions, her directed performance Practice in 2021, and her personal participation as a performer in Silent Battle in 2024.
Through this progression, motion has expanded from the microscopic shifting of pixels to the macro movements of the physical human body, solidifying as the central sensory pillar of her entire oeuvre.
This lifelong exploration originally sparked from a serendipitous moment when the artist watched shapes morph on screen while experimenting with a computer's basic "undo" function, igniting a permanent curiosity regarding digital transformation.
The architecture of the exhibition heavily anchors itself around Hong's recent video installations, which demonstrate how simple visual elements can mutate and expand their functional meaning through rhythm and repetition.
Included in the lineup is Snoopy into Space from 2019, which charts a cosmic voyage, alongside Lights from 2021, a piece that alters the ambient mood of a static sculpture via shifting illumination.
The showcase also features Move from 2022, an installation that silently coaxes the audience into physical synchronization, Searchlight from 2023, which casts a sweeping beam evocative of a formal ballroom spotlight, and Facial Exercise from 2025, which translates human expressions into a sparse, geometric language inspired by everyday emoticons.
Devoid of dense narratives or sensory-heavy special effects, Hong’s video works carry a distinct emotional weight through an austere format where minimal shapes glide at a meditative pace.
This understated power aligns with her unique methodology of constructing moving images in harmony with physical spaces, akin to arranging notes on a musical staff. By weaving musical structures into the digital screen, she unlocks a captivating force that bypasses language to touch the viewer's immediate emotions.
Simultaneously, the trajectory of Hong’s geometric imagery has steadily leaked past the boundaries of the digital monitor, materializing in physical spaces as sculptures, furniture, and immersive installations.
On the Move gathers these disparate mediums into a singular environment, displaying her foundational Organic Geometry series alongside modular pieces like Frame Relief, as well as functional, interactive furniture works such as Bench and Backstool, where visitors are invited to sit and look at the surrounding moving imagery.
By juxtaposing her early frozen digital experiments with her active video works within the same physical room, the gallery maps out a rich, multi-tiered topography showing exactly how the artist’s concept of image mobility has shifted and matured over three decades.
For contemporary audiences well-versed in the high-speed currents of modern digital media, the exhibition offers a poignant opportunity to look back at the initial euphoria of the late 1990s, when geometric forms first began to dance on screen, inviting them to join an ongoing journey. Hong Seung-hye remains, as always, beautifully in transit.
Born in 1959, Hong Seung-hye lives and works in Seoul. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from Seoul National University in 1982 and graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1986. While her early career concentrated on building worlds out of rigid square pixels, her recent integration of vector graphics has ushered in a more fluid, organic, and liberated visual vocabulary that spans two-dimensional surfaces, three-dimensional structures, furniture design, and architectural spaces.
Her extensive solo exhibition history includes landmark presentations at Kukje Gallery, Ilmin Museum of Art, Seoul Museum of Art, and Atelier Hermès, alongside her international lounge project The Painter’s Architecture, The Painter’s Furniture in New York in 2025.
Furthermore, she has participated in major biennales in Gwangju, Busan, and Changwon, and has shown work at institutions globally, including the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Songeun, Lotte Museum of Art, the Bologna Museum of Modern Art in Italy, and the Korean Cultural Center in Paris. From 1993 to 2021,
Hong shaped generations of creators as a Professor in the Department of Fine Arts at Seoul National University of Science and Technology, and her works are preserved in the permanent collections of South Korea's premier art institutions, including the Leeum Museum of Art and the Art Sonje Center.
