TVs wearing yarn and stopped fans… Savina Museum of Contemporary Art hosts Hwang Jae-won's 《Slowly Connecting》

Even objects that we have always had by our side without paying much attention approach us in a completely different way the moment they lose their utility. As fans that should spin rapidly come to a halt, and solid electronic products are wrapped in cozy yarn, small cracks appear even in the familiar landscapes of daily life.
 

The Savina Museum of Contemporary Art is hosting the exhibition 《Slowly Connecting: Unfamiliar Transformation of Familiar Objects》 by artist Hwang Jae-won until October 11. Prepared to support the creative activities of emerging artists, this exhibition presents works that reinterpret everyday objects using knitting and weaving.

Hwang Jae-won combines hand-knitted yarn with mass-produced objects such as televisions, fans, and mobile phones. As long hours and repetitive handwork are added to products made for convenience and efficiency, their original functions blur, and instead, the shapes and textures of the objects stand out.
 

Among the representative works, 〈Are you cool?〉 is a piece that adds a structure made of yarn to fan blades. The blades, which are supposed to create wind, can no longer perform their role, but the impression of the cold and hard machine changes into a sculpture with a soft texture. This transformation continues in 〈Time when even the national anthem ended〉, which combines a CRT television with woven materials, and in 〈It settled in like that〉, a folding screen that unravels scenes of daily life with thread.

For the artist, knitting is not merely a technique for decorating objects. Due to the nature of the work, which requires connecting one stitch at a time, a considerable amount of time is needed to complete it, and that process itself is fully accumulated within the work. It is a form of labor that moves in the opposite direction of an era accustomed to rapid production and immediate results.

The transformed objects evoke different memories in each viewer. Objects that were once in every home, like old televisions or fans, become mediums containing personal experiences through the artist's hands. The "connection" in the exhibition title is closer to the process where objects and people, and memories of the past and present, are slowly linked rather than rapid access.

The exhibition is held at Savina Plus on the 5th floor of the Savina Museum of Contemporary Art. Viewing hours are from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM; the museum is closed on the 24th and 25th during the Chuseok holiday, and is regularly closed every Monday.