Making artistic waves with Weather Station
4 minute read
Art can transport you to another world, entice you with its aesthetics and creativity, or even make you suddenly see things from a different perspective. The Weather Station exhibit at the Hyundai Motorstudio Beijing does all this and more. Created by the internationally renowned artist duo MOON Kyungwon & JEON Joonho, Weather Station is an interactive and eye-opening look into a future that does not only belong to humans.
Coexisting in a post-humanity landscape
Weather Station is an ongoing series of artistic experiments between Seoul and Beijing that takes up current themes like climate change and tells them not only from a human point of view but also from that of AI. For the Seoul and Busan-based creators, the Weather Station exhibit focuses on multiple issues, including a post-human perspective on climate change, the relationship between humans, non-humans, and nature, as well as coexistence in the AI age. The exhibition will run from May 31, 2024, to February 09, 2025, and can be experienced at the Hyundai Motorstudio Beijing.
MOON Kyungwon & JEON Joonho, To Build a Fire, 2022-24, stone sculpture, color video with lighting, sound, and kinetic blinds. In collaboration with Hyundai Motor Group’s Robotics LAB.
Weather Station, the title of the exhibition, deals with a current history and discourse that humans have made through climate challenges. MOON & JEON
As a cultural and artistic experimental hub, Hyundai Motorstudio Beijing is dedicated to exploring multi-disciplinary practices and enhancing society's sustainable development through thought- and action-inciting projects like Weather Station. Here, guests experience first-hand a fascinating and inspiring look into our possible future through the lens of art and technology.
The world through a non-human perspective
An intriguing and differentiating aspect of Weather Station is seeing the world around us from a non-human standpoint. The installation To Build a Fire (2022 -2024) highlights this unique view. The name is taken from Jack London's 1902 short story and tells the AI-generated tale of the Earth's millennia-old transition and climate changes from the viewpoint of a stone. The quadruped robot Spot guides guests through the installation, navigating an augmented temporal and spatial world filled with unknowns and mysteries. While underway, participants immerse themselves in the installation's artistic appeal and encounter entirely new sensory experiences through the blurred boundaries between humans and non-humans.
MOON Kyungwon & JEON Joonho, To Build a Fire, 2022-24, stone sculpture, color video with lighting, sound, and kinetic blinds. In collaboration with Hyundai Motor Group’s Robotics LAB.
For the installation of To Build a Fire, Hyundai Motor Group's Robotics LAB developed a lightweight carbon monitoring device based on the previous device made in collaboration with Professor Sujong Jeong of Seoul National University’s Graduate School of Environmental Studies and BKID industrial design studio in Seoul. Specialists at the Robotics LAB integrated it with an automatic control module and mounted it on a Spot robot to measure real-time carbon data within the exhibition hall and to participate in live performances.
In addition, MOON & JEON collaborated with designer Hyung-jin Kim from the design studio Workroom to create a carbon calendar that reinterprets open data from various global cities, including Beijing.
Installation view of Weather Station, MOON Kyungwon & JEON Joonho, 2024, Hyundai Motorstudio Beijing.
Taking a stand while sitting down
Another installation, Mobile Agora (2022 -2024), highlights the need for more discussion and creative collaboration in the era of AI and climate change. The installation consists of connecting recycled plastic chairs in a circular shape. For MOON & JEON, the chairs, which are arranged in an inviting circular shape, symbolize the need for open discussion and creative collaboration without boundaries. In doing so, Mobile Agora invites everyone to think about the future and how we want to shape and adapt to it.
MOON Kyungwon & JEON Joonho, Mobile Agora, 2022-24, mixed media, recycled plastic, stainless steel, 8,350 x 8,350 x 1,100 mm.
MOON Kyungwon & JEON Joonho, News from Nowhere: ECLIPSE, 2022-24, color video with sound, lighting by DMS, aluminum structure, 17 min.
Adrift in a new world
Another powerful visual experience is the video installation News from Nowhere: ECLIPSE (2022-2024). The narrative is created based on the artist's interest in the central themes of our time and the story-telling power of multimedia formats. News from Nowhere: ECLIPSE is the gripping tale that follows a lone protagonist struggling for survival aboard a rescue ship in the middle of the ocean. More than a mere survival narrative, the exhibit seeks to resolve the world's fundamental inconsistencies by bridging the gap between the real and the unreal.
The future is the mirror of the present. We must find hope in despair. MOON & JEON
Two artists with infinite vision
MOON & JEON have been working and collaborating since 2009 and have made an international name for themselves by exploring the role of art and technology in a rapidly changing world and the challenges faced by humanity, ranging from political and societal issues to economic themes, world conflicts, and climate change. Their interdisciplinary works have been globally premiered, and they regularly collaborate with experts from diverse fields, including design, science, philosophy, economics, and politics.
Art as a vehicle for progress for humanity
Art can help bring about positive change wherever it is experienced. That is why we continue supporting, investing, and fostering artistic endeavors and projects worldwide. For over a decade, we have extended our partnerships with global museums and cultural organizations, including the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA), Tate, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and the Korean Pavilion at the International Art Exhibitions of La Biennale di Venezia.
Most recently, we announced our 10-year partnership with the Whitney Museum of American Art to support the Whitney Biennial and the museum’s newly launched Hyundai Terrace Commission.
Our initiatives include open-call programs such as the VH AWARD, the Hyundai Blue Prize, and Artlab Editorial, a digital platform dedicated to art writing by transnational voices. Our ongoing collaborations embrace the complexities of the cultural landscape by exploring new ideas and perspectives within and beyond the art ecosystem.
Visit artlab.hyundai.com or follow @hyundai and @hyundai.artlab on instagram to learn more about our partnerships and programs.