Jeong-Min LEE

Media artist Lee Jeong-Min uses the presentation software Microsoft PowerPoint to create her works. The objects in her pieces move at different speeds through the use of PowerPoint animation effects. Lee explains that her work expresses relativity, a concept that the speed of objects and time is perceived differently depending on a person’s own movement or psychological state.

After receiving Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Hongik University Sculpture Department, Lee’s unique use of PowerPoint and creative portfolio garnered the art world’s attention. Starting from a solo exhibition “In and Around” at the Kumho Museum of Art and continuing on with the Sochi Pyeongchang House at the 2018 Winter Olympics, the SKT Tower Media Façade, and more, her works continuously gains huge interest. She also received significant recognition in the arts and culture sphere for her collaboration exhibitions with prominent institutions such as the Gyeonggi Museum of Art, Daejeon Museum of Art, Sungkok Art Museum and more.

PowerPoint is Lee’s trademark. While Lee could use fancier and easier video production programs such as Flash or Aftereffects, she chose the more “inconvenient” PowerPoint to better express her artistic intentions. She states that “other video programs allow one to control animation speeds precisely with numerical inputs. PowerPoint, on the other hand, only has five settings for speed, from ‘very fast’ to ‘very slow.’ As the way people perceive and express speed is very much subjective, relative and vague, PowerPoint is a perfect means to convey this.”

Lee is presenting her piece “Collected Time_Hangang” as part of the Kiaf SEOUL 2023 HIGHLIGHT. For this piece, Lee took elements she observed while walking near the Han River and adjusted them to unrealistic sizes, after which she set each element to move at a different speed, enabling her to express the coexistence of different temporal elements in more detail and depth.

While Lee has been dubbed a “successful young artist,” she states that she is still “battling the limitations.” She added on, stating “I worry that I’m repeating myself, the style I’ve built so far. However ironically, the constant awareness of my limitations actually serves as my motivation to keep creating art and gives me the energy to continuously experiment with new things.”

True to her words, Lee is constantly trying new things. She recently expanded her repertoire with an interactive installation piece, which changes with the movements of the viewers. The centerpiece was “Fan,” a work showing the image of a ventilation fan. The closer one gets to the piece, the faster the fan spins, allowing viewers to experience the relative flow of time. Lee stated, “I’m very interested in delving more into 3D and interactive work.”

LEE Jungmin solo exhibition ‘re, presentation’, G Gallery, 2020