Solo Exhibitions by the Second Artists in CCN Residency
\r\nLee Yeon Sook : The place that remained
\r\nLee Yeon Sook
\r\n2026-02-19 ~ 2026-03-06
\r\nExhibition Hall in CCN Residency
\r\n\r\nintroduction
\r\nCCN Residency will hold individual exhibitions of the second residency artists in a relay format. This exhibition will be a place to reflect on the meaning of creative activities here and gauge the direction of creation that will take place during the re
\r\nmaining residency by exhibiting the past representative works and new works which has been produced since they moved into this studios in April this year.
Lee Yeon Sook, the eighth artist of the Solo Exhibitions by the Second Artists in CCN Residency, has been carrying out sculpture and site-specific installation work with the motif of places and time zones containing memories in the history of individuals and groups. These exhibitions were created based on the past and present of the reclaimed land in Taean, Chungcheongnam-do, where the Chungnam Creative Studio is located. The artist installed a large-scale work reminiscent of the reclaimed land of Taean on the floor in the middle of the exhibition hall. The white land made of earth water is cracked as the surface dries throughout the exhibition period. The crack metaphoricalizes the ecology that has disappeared on the surface since the reclamation and the memories that have been left since then. A total of three installations introduced in this exhibition remind us of the memories of life and scenery that existed before the reclamation of this place in the past. Through this, the artist asks the question of when and how the land we currently stand was made and what disappeared in the process, and brings a time for mourning and recognition of the 'The place that remained' in the past.
\r\n\r\nArtist’s Note
\r\nI have always dealt with the small things, the missing, the untold, and the structure that is still working in my daily life as a narrative of memory. Rather than directly reproducing a specific event or object, I have chosen a method of revealing the traces of memory and violence through matter, space, and the physical experience of the viewer. In my work, space is not just a background, but a place where all human and non-human beings have coexisted, and a place where hidden microscopic history and emotions are deposited like layers.
\r\n'The place that remained' starts with mourning for the space where I stayed, the newly created land that hovered around it, and the countless human and non-human beings who lost their homes in the process. Here, mourning is not just a feeling of grieving loss, but another language that sustains memory. This work does not deny development or change itself. Change is a process that our lives and ecology inevitably have gone through, and what this work pays attention to is not the result of change, but the things that are naturally erased and silenced in the process.
\r\nThis installation does not reproduce specific life or events. Instead, it reveals the material of the white land, the structure of violence created by development through the act of viewing, and the silence covered on it. Violence here is not defined only by someone's clear intention or abuse. It is a violence that operates unconsciously in the name of goodwill, efficiency, and development, like 'white violence', but inevitably leaves someone hurt.
\r\nThe white land installed in the exhibition hall is a surface made of soil, but visitors are not allowed to enter it. Viewing is only possible at the edge, revealing that the land is an object of mourning and at the same time an area that we cannot fully reach today. The cracks that occur as the soil dries over time suggest disappeared ecology, and at the same time, metaphorical traces of memories that remain unsealed.
This space is a place to commemorate the past, but is a place where access to the present audience is blocked. Rather, through the smooth white surface that seems to have happened, we ask again what process the land where we already stand was created. This white surface is both a protection and a concealment, and symbolizes structural violence that quietly but continues to operate after development.
\r\n'The place that remained' is asking.
\r\nWhen and how was this land where we stand casually made, and what, who, and what life disappeared in the process.
\r\nRather than presenting an answer, I invoke the structure of violence that persists invisible through a silent surface to the present. This work is not a criticism or accusation, but an attempt to carefully leave a time of mourning and recognition in front of me and the viewer.