“뿌리 PPURI” Installation view. ©P21P21 presents a solo exhibition “뿌리 PPURI” by Taewon Ahn, through August 10. This exhibition presents Taewon Ahn’s recent works focusing on the materiality of the internet, offering a new perspective that moves beyond the dichotomy of virtual and real, approaching it as a material entity.
Taewon Ahn’s works explore a new material network formed by interactions among humans, the environment, and technology, emphasizing that the internet possesses substantial materiality rather than being merely virtual. The exhibition provides an opportunity to reassess the influence of the internet on our daily lives and identities in contemporary society. Focusing on the development of Internet technology and the relationship between Internet penetration and economic development, the artist has been working with the Internet as a material.
He views the internet as a companion material and creates his works through networks of relationships with the internet. His artworks do not simply reproduce information, but express the internet as a material element deeply embedded in everyday life.
For instance, he portrays his companion cat ‘Hiro’ through drawings or sculptures, highlighting distortions of information in the digital space. Despite focusing on cats, his works evoke images resembling insects, other animals, and even architectural forms, reflecting the hybrid nature of the internet and forming an identity of companionate relationship with it.
Through this exhibition, P21 aims to illuminate Taewon Ahn’s recent artistic world exploring new identities in response to nearby existence and interaction with the internet. it is expected to provide an opportunity for contemplating how the internet impacts our lives in contemporary society and reflecting on the materiality of the internet where we and numerous entities have rooted ourselves.
