Born in 1990s South Korea, I witnessed a society constructed by an ideal of extreme efficiency. While our economic growth birthed a global "K-brand," I’ve realized that, in this rush for collective success, individual stories that did not fit the polished and consumable image were forgotten. This structural neglect has instilled in the younger generations a sense of an 'inescapable body' and a 'suspended future.' My work builds upon this collective disorientation, investigating how society physically and emotionally displaces those who exist outside its idealized image.
I create elaborate sets and hire actors as a parallel to modern media. In my work, I use its language but with the real flawed world as the subject matter. The video works expand into installations that function as a "counter-set." By removing the "front" of the stage and exposing its structural rear, I aim to dissolve the boundary between the polished facade and the collapsed reality behind it.
My process begins with candid conversations. I distill these lived experiences into fragmented narratives. Using fantasy not as escapism, but as a mechanism to create inescapable environments, my videos use infinite loops, transforming Sisyphus-like repetition into a visceral, physical sensation. This carries over into my videos, where these fragments play on infinite loops. I want the viewer to feel the repetition as a physical weight.
EDUCATION
2021 - 2023
Royal College of Art, London, UK(Distinction)
M.A. in Sculpture
29 Feb 2014 - 21 Feb 2020
University of Seoul, Seoul, Korea
B.F.A in Environmental Sculpture, Magna Cum Laude
SOLO EXHIBITION
14 Nov - 5 Dec 2025
Wanderbound - Faction, Seoul, Korea (Funded by Arts Council Korea, Korea)
18 April - 5 May 2024 (Collective Solo)
Stove by a Whale - Staffordshire st Gallery, London, UK (Production budget sponsored by the Eaton fund)
15 Mar - 13 Apr 2024
Naumachia - Caption Seoul, Seoul, Korea (Funded by Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, Seoul Metropolitan City)
21 May - 6 June 2021
Survival Diary - Rainbow Cube Gallery, Seoul, Korea
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITION
30 Oct - 9 Nov 2025
Split Bliss - Artist house, Daejeon, Korea
Next Code 2025: Stage Where It All Unfolded - Daejeon Museum of Art, Daejeon, Korea
17 Apr - 25 Apr 2025
Preview Show - Artist residency TEMI&Ohyeou, Daejeon, Korea
29 Mar - 11 Apr 2025
Caption Seoul Archive 001 - Caption Seoul, Seoul, Korea
23 - 25 May 2024
Occult Surge - Moosey Gallery, London, UK
23 - 31 Jul 2023
Attention! - Sojourner Gallery, New York, USA
13 - 16 Jul 2023
RCA 2023 Degree Show - Truman Brewery, London, UK
17- 19 Mar 2023
Hung, Drawn & Quartered - Standpoint Gallery(Residency), London, UK
9 - 22 Oct 2022
Stack - 67 York Street, London, UK
6 - 14 Aug 2022
Pure Class - RCA Working Class Collective Summer Show 2022, St. John on Bethnal Green, London, UK
28 - 29 May 2022
WILD STONE - Van Gogh House, London, UK
20 - 26 May 2022
Home | Away: Narratives of Dislocation and Estrangement - MP Birla Millennium Art Gallery, London, UK
23 Apr - 12 Jun 2022
196th RSA Annual Exhibition - Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
3 - 6 March 2022
In Search of Overwhelming Banality: the Status Quo in Public Spaces - One Minute Space, Athens, Greece
26 - 27 Feb 2022
We Won’t Stop Showing - SET Woolwich, London, UK
28 Jan - 4 Feb 2022
WIP Show (online show) - Royal College of Art, London, UK
8 Dec 2019 - 3 Jan 2020
How shall we meet here - Gallery Woolim, Seoul, Korea
16 - 29 Oct 2019
Open Studio - Gallery 9P, Seoul, Korea
CURATION
25 Feb - 15 Mar 2025
Steven He solo exhibition <harusari: one day living thing> - Chamber, Seoul, Korea
LECTURE
14 Mar 2023
Artist Talk and Workshop on body - University for Creative Arts, Farnham, UK
22 Feb 2023
Artist Talk - South Thames University, London, UK
19 Jun 2022
One Minute Tour - Walkative Society, London, UK
11 Feb 2022
Deviant Sens8ion - University of Arts London, Camberwell College of Arts, London, UK
AWARD / SCHOLARSHIP/ RESIDENCY
2026
Cheongju Art Studio 20th Resident Artist - Cheongju, Korea
2026
The Gilbert Bayes Award 2026 - The Gilbert Bayes Trust, UK
2025
The Support for Arko Young Artists (2025) Project Grant (Visual Arts)- Arts Council Korea, Korea
2025
Artist Residency TEMI 12th Resident Artist - Daejeon, Korea
2024
Project Grant - Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, Korea
2024
Eaton Artists Grants - the Eaton Fund
2023
Long listed - Robert Walters Group UK New Artist of the Year Award 2023(UK)
2023
Shortlisted - Bloomberg New Contemporaries (UK)
2023
Residency - Standpoint Gallery, London, UK
2023
The Gilbert Bayes RCA Award - The Gilbert Bayes Trust, UK
5 Apr 2016
Seoul Mayor’s Scholarship
4 Aug 2014
Seoul Mayor’s Scholarship
MEDIA REPORT
2025 VOGUE KOREA, Online magazine article 「든 자리는 몰라도 난 자리는 알게 되는 전시」
2024 Art Papers [Features] - "How To Make an Old World New? Notes on the Whales in the Room" by Stephanie Bailey
이성은(b.1994)은 인공적 공간이 지닌 권력과 타자화된 신체 사이의 긴장을 조사한다. 현대도시를 남성적 유토피아를 모델로 해 건설된 공간으로 보고 이 장소가 어떻게 역설적으로 현대인에게 디스토피아적 현실로 작용하는 지에 주목한다. 영상, 퍼포먼스, 설치를 활용해 중산층 유토피아에 대한 믿음이 사라진 뒤의 사회를 살아가는 현대도시인의 미시적 서사를 시각언어로 풀어내고 있다.
작가는 작업을 사회의 투쟁에 대한 알레고리로 보고 자본주의 사회 시스템에 저항하는 신체의 움직임을 포착한다. 작업전반에서 육체는 가혹한 현실에서 벗어나고자 하지만 목적지 없는 고리에 갇히며 결국 실패한다. 이렇게 무의미한 행위의 반복이 지닌 새로운 정치적 가능성을 모색한다
최근에는 영상과 설치의 공간적 배경을 직접 구축함으로서 작가의 탈출주의와 유목주의적 시각을 은유적으로 전달하는데에 관심을 가지고 작업세계를 확장해 나가는 중이다.
학력
2021 - 2023
영국 왕립 예술 대학교, 미술대학원, 조소과, 런던, 영국(우수 논문)
2014 2. 29 - 2020 2. 21
서울시립대학교, 예술체육대학, 환경조각학과 학사 최우등 졸업, 서울
개인전
2025. 11. 14 - 12. 5
Wanderbound - Faction, 서울 (후원. 한국문화예술위원회)
Stove by a Whale - Staffordshire st Gallery, 런던 (제작비 지원: the Eaton fund)
2024. 3. 15 - 4. 13
Naumachia - 캡션서울, 서울 (후원. 서울문화재단, 서울특별시)
2021. 5. 21 - 6. 6
Survival Diary - 레인보우 큐브 갤러리, 서울
단체전
2025. 10. 30 - 11. 9
Split Bliss - 대전 예술가의 집, 대전
넥스트코드 2025 : 사건의 무대 - 대전시립미술관, 대전
2025. 4. 17 - 25
Preview전 - 테미예술창작센터&오늘여기우리, 대전
2025. 3. 29 - 4. 11
Caption Seoul Archive 001 - 캡션서울, 서울
2024. 5. 23 - 25
Occult Surge - Moosey Gallery, 런던
2023. 7. 23 - 31
Attention! - Sojourner Gallery, 뉴욕
2023. 7.13 - 16
RCA 2023 Degree Show - Truman Brewery, 런던
2023. 3. 17 - 19
Hung, Drawn & Quartered - Standpoint Gallery(Residency), 런던
2022. 10. 9 - 22
Stack - 67 York Street, 런던
2022. 8. 6 - 14
Pure Class - RCA Working Class Collective Summer Show 2022, St. John on Bethnal Green, 런던
2022. 5. 28 - 29
WILD STONE - Van Gogh House, 런던
2022. 5. 20 - 26
Home | Away: Narratives of Dislocation and Estrangement - MP Birla Millennium Art Gallery, 런던
2022. 4. 23 - 6. 12
196th RSA Annual Exhibition - Royal Scottish Academy, 에딘버러
2022. 3. 3 - 6
In Search of Overwhelming Banality: the Status Quo in Public Spaces - One Minute Space, 아테네
2022. 2. 26 - 27
We Won’t Stop Showing - SET, 런던
2022. 1. 28 - 2. 4
WIP Show (online show) - Royal College of Art, 런던
2019. 12. 8 - 2020. 1. 3
How shall we meet here - 갤러리 울림, 서울
2019. 10. 16 - 29
Open Studio - Gallery 9P, 서울
기획
2025. 2. 25 - 3. 15
Steven He 개인전 <harusari: one day living thing> - 챔버, 서울
강의
2023. 3. 14
Artist Talk and Workshop on body - University for Creative Arts, Farnham, 영국
2023. 2. 22
Artist Talk - South Thames University, 런던
2022. 6. 19
One Minute Tour - Walkative Society, 런던
2022. 2. 11
Deviant Sens8ion - University of Arts London, Camberwell College of Arts, 런던
수상/레지던시
2026
청주미술창작스튜디오 20기 입주작가, 청주
2026
The Gilbert Bayes Award 2026 - The Gilbert Bayes Trust, 영국
청년예술가도약지원 (시각예술 부문) - 한국문화예술위원회, 한국
2025
테미예술창작스튜디오 12기 입주작가, 대전
2024
예술창작활동지원 (A트랙) - 서울문화재단, 서울
2024
Eaton Artists Grants - the Eaton Fund, 영국
2023
Long listed - Robert Walters Group UK New Artist of the Year Award 2023, 영국
2023
Shortlisted - Bloomberg New Contemporaries, 영국
2023. 2.13 - 3.13
Standpoint Gallery(레지던시), 런던
2023
The Gilbert Bayes RCA Award (The Gilbert Bayes Trust, UK)
2016. 4. 5
서울시장 장학금
2014. 8. 4
서울시장 장학금
미디어 리포트
2025 VOGUE KOREA, Online magazine article 「든 자리는 몰라도 난 자리는 알게 되는 전시」
2024 Art Papers [Features] - "How To Make an Old World New? Notes on the Whales in the Room" by Stephanie Bailey