From a Module to a Work of Sculpture

Before going into the proprietary sculpturality and abstractness of the Bit-scape series, I would first like to describe the manufacturing process behind the stage. There aree. However, instead of choosing either one of the two approaches, Seo has combined the two through modulization and systemization to construct a practice that allows him to produce multiple copies and still achieve unique and inimitable shapes.

In spite of using molding and casting, Seo achieves complex and singular shapes in his works by conducting a wide array of technical experiments. For instance, he views the cube-shaped block in his works as his base unit (or bit) and constructs his mold as if he were making a stack out of building blocks. Then, he pours into his mold and fires the work in a kiln. This set of procedures allows Seo to give his works the flat surfaces particular to the cube-shaped bit-unit and simultaneously bestow unique aesthetic properties that cannot be repeated twice.

Having majored in engineering and design as an undergraduate student, Seo proactively applies structures of engineering all across his studio practice. For instance, despite selecting ceramics as his chief medium, Seo employed the bit-unit-based modularization as his method, and this peculiar combination also extended from the numerous experiments he carried out under the mindset of an engineer. Seo conjures the images he aims to produce, such as ideological imagery and natural objects, through his modular mold-making, and his experimental mindset is also reflected when he puts the modules together, a step that takes place before he starts working on the shape he imagined. “I wish there was a technique that could directly reproduce whatever shape I visualize in my brain into real life,” says Seo, and indeed, he goes through countless trials and errors as if he were using a mathematical function to manufacture his works, constantly adjusting the size of his blocks and trying to predict the shape of his outcome. As Seo moves on from one series to the next, his accumulated technical experiments bear evermore complex and intricate shapes. , it is important to note that Seo’s laborious planning and experimental processes are just as important to him as the final works he produces.

As implied in the title of the series — Bit-scape — Seo translates everyday life landscapes using the bit as his base unit. Yet, because Seo creates his works using cube-shaped modules, the works lack the details an organic unit might have. For instance, even if he were making molds with the smallest imaginable cubes, the condition of “handcrafted cubes” necessitates that these are at least big enough to be felt by the hand, and such a size makes it impossible for him to fully translate the characteristics of actual organisms (or cellular beings). In this sense, Seo’s translation procedure is also a process of abstraction.

On the other hand, Seo’s works re-rendering shapes into cubes are reminiscent of the pixel, the base unit of digital images. In our modern society that digitalizes almost everything — including art — converting various objects into images regenerated behind the screens, Seo takes the opposite approach. Working from a vantage point firmly rooted in reality, he accesses the world of binary numerals inside the screens, transfers the materiality of its objects into the real world, and bestows physicality on them. In turn, Seo’s studio practice is an attempt to turn the artificial into the natural or the digital world into the physical world. Although we live our everyday lives with countless screens — from within our palms to digital signages on the streets — Seo’s act of translating objects into degraded pixels somehow ironically incites a nostalgia for the digital.

The Flipside of Familiar Things, the Eye Imagining the Rest of the World

At times, we take familiar objects so much for granted that we stop trying to think what the world might look like without them. For instance, we respond immediately to the moon’s phase changes because it is always visible to us in the night sky, but we hardly ever talk about its dark side. As examined above, Seo’s studio practice of stacking cube-shaped units into a mold requires the artist to think in reverse and imagine the final product in terms of inverted images. We are used to perceiving objects exactly as they are, so visualizing a final product by its opposite shape is never an easy procedure. While the mold is the negative that allows the manufacturing to happen and the work is the positive as the end product, they are a full entity when combined. In other words, although Seo’s studio practice begins by drafting the negative shape, the implication is that he always imagines the whole.

The attitude of imagining the world as a full entity allows him to think beyond his artwork itself and also consider the exhibition space and the experience the visitors will have. Seo says, “In a world where our lives are forever furthering away from nature, instead of the incredible challenge of trying to create something more beautiful than nature itself, I rather decided that I would use my works to express my gratitude to the things that already exist in our world, provide magical experiences, and connect to reality by creating tunnels that could invoke imagination.” And his works do exactly what he says; they are the tunnels that connect daily life with the rest of the world. When visitors face uncanny scenes created with very familiar materials, they are urged to imagine the flipside of the visible world, which leads to creating small crevices in reality. And, inside the tunnels opened by his works, we might be able to turn our attention to the rest of the world outside of ourselves. Seo’s works traverse various opposites, such as protrusion vs. cavity, exposed vs. hidden, and universal vs. extraordinary, and invite us to a world like the dark side of the moon, a place that undoubtedly exists but not something we could easily meet. There, we might be able to encounter the world as a unified whole, a concept we have forgotten all this time.

Gyusik Lee (Curator, SeMA Nanji Residency)