Under Construction, a solo exhibition by Geumhyung Jeong (b. 1980, Seoul) features a newly commissioned installation of sculpture and video, and series of live performances. Working from her background in choreography and a studied interest in the role of objects and technology in our lives, Jeong uses her body and animatronic figures built from DIY parts to parse the uncanny relationships between people and machines.

In her past work, Jeong has animated self-constructed remote-controlled robots using mechanical and tech hardware tools and spare mannequin parts and medical dummies. With this new exhibition in the ICA’s lower galleries, Jeong expands her ongoing project, Under Construction, incorporating complete human skeleton models as a central component of the work. 

More info

Jeong constructs, cares for, and communicates with these homemade robot partners through an intimate dialogue of gestures and choreographed movements, evidenced in in-person performances and video installation. Under Construction will explore the link between humans and machines through autonomous sculptures, in-process constructions, and videos that both document actions between Jeong and the skeleton-machines, and the artist’s tender creation and maintenance of the work. The sculptures – more co-performer than object – act in a clumsy, unreliable and human-like manner, soliciting an ambiguous empathy from the viewer.

Jeong’s installation offers a proposal for the active life of sculpture in a public institution. The artist will perform in-person with her figural machines (dates to be announced soon), reimagining and shifting the installation. Jeong’s work shares a valuable history with kinetic and interactive sculpture since the 1960s, while being firmly rooted in the present and a specific context of technology in late-stage capitalism, which the artist approaches from the perspective afforded by an adolescence spent in Seoul during the steep rise in consumerism in South Korea.

This tender yet uncomfortable work represents a nuanced investigation of global techno-capitalism, addressing human relationships with our technological counterparts through care and mutual exchange. Jeong addresses this fundamental component of human society in a way only sculpture can – by addressing the physical relationships in space that underline our connection to objects as active agents.

Photos © Rob Harris

25 September – 15 December 2024

Exhibition space closed to public at 6pm on 8 October, 9 October and 13 November due to in-gallery performance.

Interview with Geumhyung Jeong

Large Print Guide

Sensory Map



Wednesday 20 November, 6.30pm
Love Object
In conjunction with her exhibition, this 2003 horror film explores animate and inanimate objectification through a relationship with a jealous sex doll.

Wednesday 27 November, 7.00pm
Panel Discussion: Machine Futurisms
A panel discussion in response to Geumhyung Jeong’s exploration of human-machine interactions.

Saturday 7 December, 6.30pm
Three films by Geumhyung Jeong
The artist has selected three examples of her past work for this special screening: Munbangu, RECORD STOP PLAY and Trailer for Geumhyung Jeong Delivery Service 2020.



Tuesday 24 Setpember 2024
Exhibition Preview

Wed 2 October, 6.45pm
Frankenstein
Very loosely based on Mary Shelley's classic novel of the same name, James Whale’s iconic 1931 horror film portrays a scientist who assembles a living being from parts of exhumed corpses.

Tuesday 8 October 2024
Performance
An essential component of the artist’s ongoing project, this is the first event in a series of live in-gallery performances in which Jeong acts as operator and co-performer with her mechanical bodies.

Wednesday 9 October 2024
Performance
In the second in-gallery performance in the series, Jeong manipulates and responds to the machine bodies through a conversation of movements initiated by remote control, physical touch, and mechanised gestures.

Thursday 24 October 2024
Curator-Led Exhibition Tour
Please join us for a behind the scenes tour with curator Andrea Nitsche-Krupp

Wed 6 November, 6.30pm
Dr. Giggles
Manny Coto’s 1992 slasher film portrays an asylum escapee arriving to the town where his mass-murderer father was killed and soon starts on a spree of his own.

Wednesday 13 November 2024
Performance
Jeong returns to the ICA to continue her ongoing construction, maintenance and choreography with her mechanical figures. Audiences are invited to witness this intimate dialogue live as the artist operates and performs with the bodies.

Friday 15 November 2024
Performative lecture
Part artist talk, part performance, Geumhyung Jeong will walk audiences through her practice leading up to the current work via lecture, images, video, and movement demonstrations.