UNFREEZE borrows its name from the groundbreaking exhibition Freeze (1988), which marked a pivotal moment in contemporary art history. While Freeze ignited a sensation in the 1990s with its emphasis on sensationalism, today, sensationalism has reached its limits, criticized for being shallow and superficial. If Freeze implies a passive state of stillness or stagnation, UNFREEZE suggests an active process of thawing, symbolizing the essence of "art" itself. Rather than focusing on "what it means," this exhibition delves into the artists' approach to creating objects—the thoughts and attitudes that shape their work—and emphasizes the inner spirit of art and the communication it facilitates.

Yoo Hwasoo presents an installation that involves cultivating mushrooms on a felled tree placed on boundary stones, which are typically used to demarcate divisions between spaces, within a high-tech smart farm. His work begins with the serendipitous discovery of a discarded tree that had been removed because it obstructed the view of a residential complex. This tree, once seen as an obstacle, becomes central to Yoo’s exploration of the elements that lie beyond human control. By using the boundary stone as a site where mushrooms thrive and nature’s cyclical processes unfold, he generates a new narrative around the natural ecosystem.

The hefty boundary stone, embodying a sense of seriousness, remains quietly present in the exhibition space. The impact on the viewer is not primarily visual; it emerges from the transformation of the familiar relationship between the normal and the abnormal, the natural and the unnatural. This disruption reshapes the viewer’s perception, challenging their understanding of what is seen and unseen.

UNFREEZE highlights the contemporary blending of diverse attitudes. The artists in UNFREEZE experiment with the power of art not as a mere representation of language or form, but as an attitude—an energy that reflects the very direction of contemporary art through its relationship and communication with the viewer. This communication stems from a natural attitude that embraces the values of diversity, spontaneity, unpredictability, inclusiveness, impracticality, and flexibility—wisdom that art imparts to us.

While visually neither provocative nor extravagant, the works of Yoo Hwasoo, Jun Jangyeon, and Shin Jongmin are connected in their conscious effort to avoid external shocks.

By blurring once-clear boundaries in the spaces between divisions and in the gaps where certainty once resided, their works suspend our certainty about relationships and question the boundaries of knowledge and belief.

The exhibition unsettles countless boundaries of knowledge, as each artist’s attitude enters into the conversation around the definition and role of art. In doing so, it brings attention to the central concerns of contemporary artists, reminding us how fluid our knowledge and identities are, and urging us not to forget what is important as we navigate the present.
—Eunhee Kim (Art Psychologist)