Korean artist Geumhyung Jeong's robots are on display in Modena, Italy.

Fondazione Modena Arti Visive is the first Italian contemporary art institution to host a solo exhibition by Geumhyung Jeong (Seoul, 1980), Upgrade in Progress, in which the artist presents a new site-specific installation commissioned by the foundation itself and focused on the Korean artist’s most recent project.

Jeong has distinguished herself internationally in the performing arts for her simultaneously entertaining and disturbing choreographies in which she performs with electronic devices with humanoid likenesses. Combining different means of expression (dance, theater, film, and sculpture) she creates her works with a variety of prosthetic devices, mechanical and technological hardware tools, cosmetics, and medical mannequins, incorporating live performances that “demonstrate” how her objects can be used. When presenting them in contexts dedicated to the visual arts, the artist arranges the objects in strange sequences and orders them on pedestals within brightly lit rooms that mimic scientific archives and museum collections.

Upgrade in Progress is the further development of Homemade RC Toy, a series of remotely controlled mechanical sculptures made by the artist in 2019 for his solo exhibition at Kunsthalle Basel, and Small Upgrade, presented the same year at the 5th Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art (Russia). Because of their do-it-yourself making with components purchased on specialized websites, Jeong’s “robots” turn out to be extremely amateurish. Having self-taught mechanical and programming codes, the artist has infused these objects with alchemically unpredictable and ungainly movements due to their limited range of operation.

As the title of the exhibition suggests, this new group of works is a continuation of an allegorical narrative undertaken last year. These remotely controlled mechanical robots are constructed with visual and structural features similar to those of the earlier “models,” but possess a greater variety of movements due to a design that not only increases their agility but also controls the strange appearance of some of their body parts. The sculptures are placed on a series of modular work planes that transform the halls of the Garden Building into a single stage. Thanks to this specific spatial setting, the work is not just a mere representation of the place where the artist carries out tests and experiments on his “toys” but is transferred through the artist’s action to the series of videos arranged along the exhibition route.

The exhibition is curated by Diana Baldon and is open from Feb. 29 to June 2.

On Sunday, March 1 and 29 at 5 p.m., the artist will be the protagonist of Live demonstration tour, two performances designed especially for Upgrade in Progress, in which she will interact with the objects that make up the installation at the Palazzina dei Giardini.

For all information you can visit the official website of the Modena Visual Arts Foundation.

Korean artist Geumhyung Jeong's robots are on display in Modena, Italy.

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