Seoul · South Korea
Kim Heecheon: Moles
First media-focused solo survey at SeMA explores gamification, AI, and digital perception
A Digital Subterranean
Seoul Museum of Art is launching its inaugural series dedicated to moving-image practitioners, beginning with an invitational survey of Kim Heecheon. Running from 20 August until 8 November 2026, the presentation positions the creator as a vital commentator on our increasingly digitised cultural landscape. Rather than treating technology as mere equipment, the artist examines how computational systems have quietly woven themselves into everyday experience, often rendering themselves invisible while reshaping how we locate ourselves within virtual layers of existence. This marks the institution's first dedicated exploration of screen-based practice, signalling a deliberate shift towards examining how digital infrastructures dictate contemporary social behaviour.
Engineered Temporality
Central to this inquiry are two interactive pieces developed during 2023: CutterIII and Double Poser. Both function as playable environments that repurpose institutional architecture as their primary backdrop. By treating game mechanics as the structural foundation rather than supplementary decoration, Kim investigates how software alters our sense of duration and place. The projects deliberately experiment with whether proprietary development platforms can operate as legitimate frameworks for generating moving imagery. Through this approach, the viewer encounters shifting rhythms that mirror the fragmented pace of information-driven societies, challenging traditional expectations of passive observation.
The Mole's Passage
Bridging these earlier experiments is a newly commissioned piece titled Lemon, scheduled for display in 2026. The concept emerged from a whimsical observation regarding a hidden creature that appears as a bonus feature within the previous games. Imagining this subterranean visitor carving a secret corridor between the installations, the work adopts the framework of a fictional title called Butter III. Within this imagined system, players guide a rodent named Butter through concealed pathways. Symbolically, the creature represents a desire to escape rigid digital conditioning while simultaneously embodying an identity constantly recalibrated by algorithmic forces.
Synthetic Visions and Analog Fragments
As artificial intelligence moves beyond mimicking human cognition toward requiring us to adapt our own behaviours to machine logic, Kim turns his attention to evolving perceptual habits. Cured, another forthcoming project from 2026, utilises generative models across multiple screens to map how synthetic imagery might reconfigure collective sightlines in the coming years. Contrasting with this automated output is dng, also arriving in 2026. This photographic collection distils more than one hundred images from a private archive comprising five thousand eight hundred and forty-one smartphone captures made since 2023. Each frame operates as a quiet record of personal narrative, anchoring the sprawling digital discourse in tangible, lived moments.
Beyond the Interface
Organised under the guidance of curator Sungmin Lee Jeong alongside coordinators Soojeong PARK, Jiyoun Lee and Yoon Jung Won, the presentation invites audiences to step away from conventional viewing habits. By merging physical gallery architecture with simulated environments, the installation encourages a temporary suspension of terrestrial concerns. Viewers are positioned to navigate intersections between material reality and computational fantasy, ultimately reflecting upon how contemporary tools influence our understanding of presence, duration, and human agency. The exhibition demonstrates that engaging with digital culture requires both critical distance and immersive participation, offering a necessary pause to consider what remains authentically human amidst rapid technological acceleration.
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