Seongeun Lee

Seongeun Lee (b.1994, South Korea) is an artist based in London and Seoul. Prior to studying sculpture at Royal College of Art in London, she graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Seoul with a BFA degree in Environmental Sculpture in 2020.

Lee works in multiple mediums, including installation, video, and performance art. She focuses on delivering the microscopic perspective of a member reflecting generational viewpoints and dystopian ideas.

I am a millennial artist who grew up in Korea, where middle-class utopias lost their validity after the peak of rapid economic growth in the 1980s. Through video, performance, sculpture, and installation, I seek to visualize the overwhelming sensations that dominate modern society—feelings of not belonging and being disoriented.

Looking at my practice as a means of resistance to the capitalist social systems, I strive to separate it from the general flow of societies which seek to be productive as a means for existence. I use an autobiographical view of myself as an individual wage earner as an allegory to comment on society.

Ever since my 20s, I have constantly moved to find a ‘better’ place - perhaps a place that is inclusive and guarantees minimum human dignity without effort. The current state of my migration is that I move to move, and so does my work; because I cannot stay in the present state, I struggle and work to move even though I realise that there is no better land.

I’m currently working on video productions from a sculptor’s point of view. I believe that the handcrafted spatial backgrounds of the video and performance are the most effective way to convey my nomadic vision to the audience.

In my work, the body has come to terms with the reality that the utopian dream doesn’t exist. This body is unable to stop its attempts to escape from this harsh reality. The gestures manifested in my performances and sculptures are trapped in a loop without a destination. These gestures always end in failure. The body is revealed as continuously drifting between the spaces that I construct. My artistic attempt to turn these failures into humour is key to connecting the audience’s empathy with my work.