Installation view of Human, 7 questions, Leeum Museum of Art, 2021, photo: Han Do Hee

The special exhibition at Leeum Museum of Art, Human, 7 questions, seeks to contemplate the meanings of “being human” within the rapidly changing circumstances of the twenty-first century and the unprecedented global pandemic that we are presently confronting. The exhibition is organized in the form of posing seven questions about humans through approximately 50 artists and 130 artworks. Beginning with the postwar art of the mid-twentieth century, when introspection on human existence became widespread, the exhibition proceeds to examine more recent artworks that have emerged together with discussions on the crisis of humanism and the posthuman. Through these works, the exhibition seeks to examine various images of humans that traverse the boundaries between the mind and body, rational and irrational, “me” and the community, real and virtual, and humans and nonhumans. Further, the exhibition seeks to reconsider human values that have been taken for granted thus far. What is human? What are the conditions that define humanity? How are the boundaries between me, the Other, and the world changing? And, are we ready to coexist with unfamiliar beings beyond humans?

Youtube link for the exhibition tour video.

An installation view of the exhibition “Human, 7 Questions,” at Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul (Park Yuna The Korea Herald)