Future’s Present

The Space Gallery

London, UK

2018

Selected from the Future SPACE open call, Joonhong Min’s solo exhibition presents a remembered, current and imagined future city. The artist was born in the city, has lived in different cities and feels he is destined to always live in the city. As an urban dweller, he draws his subject matter from objects and settings found in the metropolis and from his personal memories that were formed within the city. At the core of the artist’s work is a meditation on isolation—both voluntarily isolating oneself through the act of drawing and being isolated by one’s surroundings due to the fierce competition in contemporary society.  

You will often find Joonhong Min walking and collecting commonplace waste objects that have been discarded on the street. His focus is on the physicality of what has been left after its expected usage has expired, what has been burnt out and neglected. He then draws upon these surfaces with a pen—recording the duration and gestures of the space he has inhabited, his visual memories about the current city and imaginations about a future city. The gaze he casts upon the city gains a form through diverse media. By collecting what has been cast out, the artist embraces what has fallen behind the rapid pace of city life; be that objects, sentiments, or individuals.

For ‘Future’s Present(2018)’ Joonhong Min will create a new installation comprising films and a sculptural installation created from his drawings on found objects gathered in Hackney. This exhibition unfolds his impressions and inspirations of London while simultaneously visualising memories of the past and imaginations about a future city. From an urban perspective he is constructing a narrative around what has been left out in today’s urbanised society and what will be presented in this ‘unpredictable future to come’ under the name of efficiency and development.