Facing up to uncertainty
Leeji Hong
The term "net art" was coined by visual artist Vuk Ćosić, who combined the words "net" (discovered in an email) and "art." Rhizome defines it as "art that acts on the network, or is acted upon by it." Early net art often showcased the technologies of its time or explored the internet as a new environment. However, it relied heavily on networks and faced challenges in gallery displays due to interface limitations and other constraints. In the 2000s, Marisa Olson, then editor of Rhizome, redefined the internet art of the 1990s. She described it as encompassing all creations that derive materials and ideas from internet-based actions, rather than merely art viewable online. This shift marked the transition from net art to internet art. A pivotal concept during this period, as noted by visual artist Cory Arcangel, was "internet awareness," which became a key criterion for distinguishing and legitimizing internet-based creations as artworks. Post-internet art later emerged, fundamentally shifting its perspective by treating the internet as a medium rather than just a tool. This approach emphasized both utilizing and critiquing the internet environment itself. Consequently, post-internet art expanded into a broader realm of creative practices surrounding online activities. Artists like Jinseung Jang, part of the generation born after the 1980s, experienced the linear progression of net art alongside the transitions from analog to digital eras. These shifts naturally became ingrained in their visual language. Situated at the center of these transitions, they compare past and present, continually posing and exploring questions of contemporaneity through their work.
Internet-based art has been created since the 1980s. Still, as the definition of media and its platforms expanded into the digital realm, the creative practices surrounding it have been continuously redefined and transformed by rapidly changing environments. Early net art viewed cyberspace as a new domain, often exploring themes of malfunctions and uncertainties within it. However, with the proliferation of the internet and 3G smartphones, today’s digital technology has increasingly come to be seen as an extension of the human body. What was once perceived as a distinct space or dimension—the internet—has now been reconceived as an intrinsic part of oneself, seamlessly extending the physical body. Furthermore, the reality we inhabit today has evolved into a virtualized world where the boundaries between the virtual and the real have blurred, making it increasingly difficult to establish certainty. Creating art that uses this as material and language, therefore, requires a constant confrontation with uncertainty. However, Jinseung Jang’s series of works does not treat the internet merely as a collection of “immaterial” content. Instead, he approaches it as both a medium and a material form, conceptualizing the digital as a space, a material, and a tangible specific object.
The pervasive integration of digital technology into everyday life has rapidly transformed our understanding of space, time, and perception. The modern spatiotemporal coordinates have been redefined through the experience of constant connectivity enabled by the internet. Jinseung Jang's early work, Face de-perception (2017), examines how advancements in information science and biotechnology destabilize entrenched biases and perceptions, blurring the boundaries of certainty. The convergence of media technology and art continues to reshape established concepts of contemporary art, making it increasingly difficult to adhere to or confine oneself to traditional art concepts and associated aesthetic discourses. As previously mentioned, just as smartphones and digital devices have seamlessly integrated with the body, eliminating any sense of otherness, Jang’s Gooey Gear (2023) embraces the extension of the body and media's evolution within a posthuman framework. In light of the evolving dynamics of the era, the work seeks to reinterpret the relationship between the digital and the body—not as mere auxiliary tools but as extensions that foster new understandings of corporeality through the lens of posthumanism. Jang’s practice naturally incorporates media transformations and evolving perceptions of the digital, reflecting the contemporary shift toward post-anthropocentric thought. Moreover, our perspective on the world we inhabit is also changing. The internet, both a new form of information technology and a communication medium, has spread globally without restrictions, prompting contemporary art to witness the emergence of new technological images. Galleries and museums are observing, in real time, the diversification of art forms where high-tech and media converge—from digital photography and film to video installations, computer art, and new media art. “White cubes” are being replaced by “black boxes,” while small-screen films and video monitors are giving way to large-scale wall projections. Another significant phenomenon is the shift in focus in art production and analysis from physical objects to images. The conceptual shift from analog to digital has also brought about countless unforeseen impacts. Jinseung Jang explores this “digital nostalgia” by revisiting analog devices and tools from the past. By integrating analog devices that once symbolized innovation into his works, he juxtaposes past, present, and future.
Through Deluded Reality (2021), the artist reflects on his perception of the exhibition space as a kind of portal. The work explores a contemporary world that feels both familiar and unfamiliar, where the boundaries between reality and illusion, as well as the real and the virtual, have grown increasingly blurred. However, regarding the integration of technology and art, he argues that this relationship should not reduce art to a passive submission to technology. For a genuine synthesis to occur, one must reject the deterministic notion that the emergence of new media alone dictates all change. Ultimately, digital-based art in the contemporary era must move beyond passively adopting rapidly advancing technologies. Instead, it is crucial to engage with the technological environment to reveal fundamental shifts in perception. This requires continually probing the artistic foundations of digital environments and media and refusing to shy away from questions about their implications. From this perspective, Jinseung Jang’s practice transcends mere technological advancement. It persistently examines how art can evolve through its relationship with new media.
Leeji Hong (Curator)
Leeji Hong is a curator based in Seoul. Her curatorial projects include Game Society (MMCA, 2023), Peter Weibel (MMCA, 2022), Museum of Everyone, MoE (Animal Crossing online game project, 2020), Monstrous Moonshine (Gwangju Biennale Collateral Exhibition, 2018), Shame on You (Doosan Gallery New York, 2017), The Subtle Triangle (2015), FANTasia: East Asia Feminism (2015), and Phantomarm (2018). She is the co-author of Share Me: Shared Art and Responding Platforms (2019), Share Me: Imagining the future of art after catastrophes (2021), and Crash: 10 hours to read Technology, Speed, Art Market (2023). She currently works as a curator at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) in Seoul and serves as the curatorial director of meetingroom, an online curatorial research platform. Her research focuses on perception and cultural phenomena shaped by digital media and evolving creative environments.
