Education

2015
M.A. Contemporary Arts Practice, Bern University of Applied Sciences, Bern, CH

2011
B.A. Mode (Voluntarily withdrawal), Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerpen, BE

2008
B.F.A. Sejong University, Seoul, KR

Solo Exhibitions

2024
Derivative Messiah, DOOSAN Gallery, Seoul, KR
POCALYEAP, Jacob's Booth, Antwerp, BE

2022
Derivative Messiah, Seoul Art Space Geumcheon, Seoul, KR

2020
Petrichor, Studio Concrete, Seoul, KR

2019
Petrichor, Antichambre, Bern, CH
Petrichor, The Gallery Apart, Rome, IT
Petrichor, Center for Contemporary Art FUTURA, Prague, CZ
Guilt Trip, QUARK, Geneva, CH

2017
Guilt Trip, Neumeister Bar Am Gallery, Berlin, DE
Guilt Trip, Sic!Raum für Kunst, Luzern, CH

2016
Shadow rift, The Gallery Apart, Rome, IT
What A Silencer Sounds Like, Kunsthaus Langenthal, Langenthal, CH

2015
Delivery Near Me, Krethlow Galerie, Bern, CH

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024
Open-air Museum Pungnap with Buk-Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, KR
Beyond The Looking Glass, Galerie Lange+Pult, Zurich, CH

2023
ONE MAN AT A LONELY ISLAND, Pingshan Art Museum, Shenzhen, CN
Week Prompt, Space Sarangfarm, Gimhae, KR
Another Letter to Nature, Culture Station Seoul 284, Seoul, KR

2022
Human Tank, Wallstreet, Fribourg, CH  (Duo Exhibition with Doris Dehan Son)
Circuit Seoul #2, Loop Station Ikseon, Seoul, KR

2021
Cold Pitch, BB&M Gallery, Seoul, KR
Castelnuovo Fotografia Edizione IX (Guilt Trip), Castelnuovo Di Porto, Rome, IT
Substantial Investors Moving Markets On Their Own, Elephant Kunsthall, Lillehammer, NO
OUT & OFF, Space 413, Seoul, KR
OLED ART WAVE - Every Wave You Will Sense, Peaches D8NE, Seoul, KR

2020
Black Watermelon, WESS, Seoul, KR
Out of Blueprints, Serpentine Galleries (online), London, UK
Hard Body Soft Core, Body Archive Project, Zurich, CH
Petrichor (video screening), WESS, Seoul, KR

2018
SHE DEVIL XI, Studio Stefania Miscetti, Rome, IT
Cantonale Bern Jura, Kunsthalle Bern, CH
Dancing Eyes I, II, Video screening, Spazio Pulp, Vienna, AT
No Space Between, Artspace Boan1942, Seoul, KR
Swiss Art Award, Messe Basel Halle 3, Basel, CH

2016
You are mean to me when you wake up at three, Neumeister Bar-Am gallery, Berlin, DE
Daojiao Art Festival, Guangzhou, CN
Louise Aeschlimann und Margareta Corti Award, Kunsthaus Centre Pasqu’Art, Biel, CH
Plattform, Swiss Young Art Award, Kunstraum Walcheturm, Zurich, CH

2015
Cantonale Bern Jura, Kunsthaus Centre Pasqu’Art, Biel, CH
Playtime, 9800 S Sepulveda, Los Angeles, US
The First Smell of The Moon, O’NewWall Gallery, Seoul, KR
At Dead of Night, Sic!Raum für Kunst, Luzern, CH
Prime Like, Kolin21, Zug, CH
NEUE, Kunsthaus Centre Pasqu’Art, Biel, CH
More or Less Human, Local-int, Biel, CH

2014
Do Your Best in Your Space, 3h project, Seoul, KR
All I ever see is matchstick men and you, Kunsthalle, Bern, CH
Cantonale Bern Jura, Kunsthaus Centre Pasqu’Art, Biel, CH
Cantonale Bern Jura, Kunsthaus Langenthal, Langenthal, CH
Jardin Sec, Urgent Paradise, Lausanne, CH

2013
Logic If You Want Human If You Like, Alpineumgalerie, Luzern, CH
For Your Consideration, Progr, Bern, CH

Other Projects

2024
Organized [Fuckery Poetry Reading Group Ⅷ], Kokkiri, Seoul, KR

2023
Organized [Fuckery Poetry Reading Group VII], Dew Kim × Sejin Jung, Seoul, KR
Organized [Fuckery Poetry Reading Group VI], Kokkiri, Seoul, KR

2022
Organized [Fuckery Poetry Reading Group IV + Montez Press Radio New York], Seoul, KR
Organized [Fuckery Poetry Reading Group III], White Noise, Seoul, KR

2021
Organized [Fuckery Poetry Reading Group II], CAVA LIFE, Seoul, KR
Organized [Fuckery Poetry Reading Group I], 30Books, Suwon, KR

Awards

2023
The 14th DOOSAN Yonkang Arts Awards Visual Art, DOOSAN Yonkang Foundation, Seoul, KR
Post Truth, Cylinder, Frieze (Focus Asia), Seoul, KR

2018
Shortlisted for the Swiss Art Award, CH
Selected as WAHLVERWANDTSCHAFTEN an fünf Kulturschaffende by Erbprozent Kultur, CH

2016
Awarded the Aeschlimann Corti Award, CH
Shortlisted for the Helvetia Art Prize, CH

Public Collections

Amorepacific Museum of Art, KR
The Canton of Bern, CH
Collezione De Iorio, IT
Seoul Museum of Art, KR
Swiss National Library, Bern, CH

Jury's Statement

Selecting the winner of the 2023 DOOSAN Yonkang Arts Awards in Visual Arts was particularly challenging. As the jury considered many factors from the recommendation stage, such as the purpose and nature of the award, the quality and potential of the work, age, and previous nominations, the narrow intersection of these criteria made the process more strenuous than ever. Unlike last year, the lack of duplicate nominations resulted in a total of nine candidates—three nominees per each of the three jurors. The candidates ranged widely in both age and medium. Last year, most candidates were in their mid-30s; however, this year, there was a division between artists in their early 30s and late 30s. A clear division was also noticeable in the artists’ medium: while there was a wide range, spanning painting, sculpture/installation, photography, and video, there was a strong concentration on the two traditional mediums, painting and sculpture/installation. This is less an accurate representation of the current art scene than a coincidence, but possibly a result of the fewer notable video/media work since the deconcentration from online and nonmaterial art in the post-COVID times.

The nomination itself was challenging, and the discussion to determine the winner was not any less formidable. The jury had to first establish a standard to narrow the selection of artists, as there were no duplicate nominations this year. Sharing the recommendation letters in advance allowed each juror to have a perspective on one another’s nominees; however, to consider each of their qualifications thoroughly, the jurors conducted a process of discussing their decisions with one another. During this process, each juror prepared comments on the other jurors’ nominations, spending time discussing candidates besides nominees of their own. Then, each juror determined the priority among their own nominees, and, based on a comprehensive evaluation, the jury reached a consensus to select the finalists. After much consideration, the selection was narrowed to two artists, from which determining the winner was yet another mission. The tight match between the two artists, where the result was unpredictable while the jurors reconsidered or even redacted their decisions occasionally, spoke to the stark strengths and weaknesses of the two finalists. Between the options of a more established candidate with institutional recognition and a recent successful solo exhibition and a lesser-known yet ambitious candidate who is innovative and has ample potential for growth, the decision teetered toward the latter. While both candidates unquestionably satisfied the motto of the award, that “[the winning artist] introduces an independent artistic world and new currents,” what settled the decision were the answers to the final questions: “Whose exhibition are we more curious to see?” and “Will the award significantly contribute to the artist’s development?”

The final winner of the award is Sinae Yoo, a primarily video installation artist who experiments across various mediums, such as painting and ceramics. Sinae Yoo is a young artist currently based in Korea and working internationally, who started out in Europe in 2013. Yoo gained recognition abroad before entering the Korean art scene in 2020, which explains her relatively low profile in Korea compared to other artists of her age. Nevertheless, she has made an impact in Europe, winning the esteemed Swiss art award, Aeschliman Corti Award, and showing with Serpentine Gallery. Through subculture motifs, including underground music, arcade games, car audio tuning (“window flexing”) phenomenon, digital memes, and female characters in 3D video games, Yoo’s work delves into problems underlying contemporary capitalist consumerism, such as ostentation and vanity, the commodification of sex, voyeurism, dehumanization, alienation, and other ethical issues. Yoo’s distinctiveness among other young artists who intuitively interpret contemporary culture comes from the grave, existential, and self-aware contemplations that exist beneath the visible surface of sensation, hedonism, and playfulness. In her work, critique of capitalism and skepticism toward humanity blend seamlessly with humor, vitality, empathy, and cuteness, creating a peculiar conjunction of surface and depth. Such convergence of contrasting and disparate elements manifests not only in Yoo’s artistic approach but also in her treatment of materials and form. Ethical inquiries in a capitalist society intersect with an interest in machinery/technology and the development of physical senses to create unique reconfigurations. The humble bodies of the impoverished, who are quickly consumed, objectified, and expelled in the contemporary civilization of technology and the materiality of the tactile soundwaves that vibrate as automobiles are liquefied result in the strange collation of the mundane and the sublime, the lowly and the noble. The free-form fusion of diverse motifs, such as spirituality, the body, and the machine, as well as the hybridization of mediums, including video, painting, print, and sculpture, mark Yoo’s distinctiveness—her strength which holds significant potential for further formal and conceptual development.

Being an artist in the particularly fast-paced and competitive Korean art scene requires establishing a physical working condition and, further, facing and protecting oneself from the never-ending anxiety, compulsion, skepticism, and self-doubt. The jury hopes for unbending self-trust and continued growth not only for the awardee but also for all the nominees, whose potentials are immense. Moreover, the jury wishes that this award becomes an encouragement for the awardee’s long journey ahead and extends a warm congratulations to her.

Jury   Seong Eun Kim, Jiyeon Kim, Mun Hye Jin