Through All Your Senses

Lee’s style is similar to media art—which pushes the boundaries of contemporary art— in that it appropriated calligraphic elements of Eastern painting and forged a new path for modern art. Throughout his artistic career, Lee was a bold experimenter who attempted things that had never been attempted before. He tirelessly explored the languages of Western realism and abstract art, as his painting style transitioned from semi-abstract to non-figurative. This transition over time was the result of his goal of creating art that reflected the zeitgeist. Media art is a field in which some of the most experimental and challenging artistic attempts are being made through the use of media technologies.

He tirelessly explored the languages of Western realism and abstract art, as his painting style transitioned from semi-abstract to non-figurative. In this exciting field, attempts are being made to create new portraitures of the world in which we live. The ultimate aim of media art—to develop new art forms for a new era through endless experimentation—was also one of Lee’s major artistic goals and passions.

Lee Ungno worked to invent new artistic modalities for the generation in which he lived, seeking to update the conventions of his art, throughout his lifetime. The spirit of challenge, which pushed Lee to pursue new art forms and to never be satisfied with the present, is also found in the underlying philosophical energy of media art. Through the exhibition Through All Your Senses, the Lee Ungno Museum pursues this same spirit of challenge and is exploring new ways of displaying Lee’s work using twenty-first century technologies. Through this exhibition, audiences will be able to enjoy a more varied and multisensory experience of Lee’s art.

In these ways, audiences can depart from more traditional, passive art appreciation, which relies primarily on the sense of sight, and enjoy a more active sensory experience. This increased use of the senses cultivates an increased appreciation of Lee’s work, spurring more colorful artistic experiences and interpretations. Through All Your Senses, visitors have the opportunity to communicate with Lee Ungno and his work through the senses that they use in their normal, everyday lives, but seldom use in a museum environment.

By combining Lee Ungno’s artwork with new media, this exhibition suggests a new way to exhibit Lee’s work and increase the relevance in today’s artistic milieu. The exhibition is designed so that visitors can freely improvise to directly experience Lee’s works.

Presented using interactive sound and digital imagery, Lee’s pieces react to the movements of viewers through built-in motion sensors, creating a free flowing physical and psychological connection between the viewer and the artwork on display. This experience allows visitors to connect more strongly with each piece and with the artist. The understanding that viewer participation is the only way each artwork can be made complete encourages visitors to move past passive art appreciation to active engagement. In this exhibition, audience members become bold improvisers, filling the space with their own creative buzz.

Through these expanded avenues, experiencing Lee’s work becomes a conversation. In this exhibition, viewer participation prompts each of Lee’s works to remain in a continual state of transition, allowing viewers to experience an insightful and ever-evolving account of Lee Ungno and his art.

The dynamic flow of human figures depicted in this section is a reinterpretation of Lee’s People series and represents the connection of humans through online networks. In a network, people exchange knowledge and information, creating new values and advancing the world.

By becoming a figure in this People series, each visitor can experience Lee’s paintings using contemporary sensibilities and language, and can play a role not only in appreciating artwork, but in creating it.

By placing their portraits together on the wall, the audience participates in making a guestbook that is similar in style to Lee’s People paintings.

Through this experience, visitors gain a deeper understanding of the meaning of “I, You, and We” and the ways in which individuals can come together to make history more dynamic. Through this experience, visitors also understand themselves as part of a larger group of people.

This part of the exhibition encourages viewers to actively engage in the artistic process. Unexpected elements (such as the viewers’ own figures) are added to produce unique, individual images.

Visitors will leave with their own new awareness of Lee’s work and an increased understanding of Lee’s artistic language, achieved by creating their own interesting variations of his work.