Yeon Sung (연성) is a decolonial artist-researcher based in both The Netherlands and South Korea.
Being a traumatized generation of colonialism, she takes on a decolonial position: weaving the untold colonial narratives of non-human matters as transversal human agencies, transcending time and territories.
As a transboundary practitioner having an educational background in industrial engineering and graphic design, her practice traverses disciplinary boundaries: filmmaking, writing, and prototyping in accordance with methods based on chemistry, physics, and environmental science.
Her practice-based research “The Matter Trilogy,” spans three selected non-human matters (Copper, Dust, T.B.D.) and their Critical Materialities. The project attempts to demonstrate how to unravel the intertwined arguments within the non-human matter from the colonial past to the technological catastrophe in the present day.
Solo Exhibitions
2021 D-Scape 2.0, Space Pado, Seoul, KR
2021 Phantom Menace2.5, Nieuwe Vide, Haarlem, NL
2021 Matter, Acts (OpZicht Programme), Stroom Den Haag, Den Haag, NL
2020 Rusty Odyssey, Cyart Gallery, Seoul, KR
Selected Group Exhibitions/Screenings
2022 From the Sea to the Clouds to the Soil, Stroom Den Haag, Den Haag, NL
2020 Artist Statement #5, CICA Museum, Gimpo, KR
2020 Besides the Screen 2020, Porto, PT
2020 Other Ways of Watching Together, Mama, Rotterdam, NL
2020 MINT - SWITCH 3.0 Short Film Festival, Roodkapje, Rotterdam, NL
2019 CRAFT 2.0, Neverland Cinema, Rotterdam, NL
2019 Gogbot Festival Young Blood Expo, Enschede, NL
Awards/Grants
2022 Subsidie kunst- en cultuurprojecten (Projecten voor onderzoek en experiment), Gemeente Den Haag, NL
2022 Art&Tech Research&Development, Art Council of Korea, KR
2021 SPOT Individuele tentoonstelling, Stroom Den Haag, Den Haag, NL
2020 Art Change Up Grant, Gyeongnam Culture and Art Foundation, Gyeongnam, KR 2020 Stroom Promise Grant, Stroom Den Haag, Den Haag, NL
2020 Art Support Grant RE:SEARCH, Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, Seoul, KR
2020 Grand Prize, Emerging Artists Competition, Cyart Gallery, Seoul, KR
2019 Nomination, Gogbot Festival Young Blood Expo, Enschede, NL
Residency
2021 Nieuwe Vide Research Residency, Haarlem, NL
2019 Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival Academy, Jihlava, CZ
Academic Conferences
2020 Besides the Screen 2020 Conference, Porto, PT
2019 The Second PIN (Postcolonial Studies Initiative) Network Conference, Intellectuals Across Borders: Writers, Artists, Activists, Münster, DE
Publications
2020 Artist Statement #5, CICA Press, KR, USA