Hyeyoon Lee is studying media art in Prof. christine lahr class at HGB Leipzig. As a member of the project team, she is also responsible for managing social media content.
¥€¥ Exchange Office
'¥€¥ Exchange Office' explores the relationship between labor and money through the core concept of exchange, examining the fluctuation of value between countries. The artist, an "anime kid" who grew up watching cartoons, talks about the contradictions of the world in the gap between the world of cartoons and the absurdity of reality. The work reflects the position of individuals in the international labor market and its variable value. The artist has experienced this firsthand as a foreign worker and international student. Today, the value of labor transcends the borders of individual countries.
Exchange rates reflect not only currency fluctuations but also a country's political, economic, and social status, which affects the value of labor itself. The artist recreates this reality in the setting of an exchange office. In this space, viewers exchange their working hours for a fictional currency called “labor.” This "labor" is the currency of a country created by the artist, and its exchange rate fluctuates in real time. Consequently, viewers experience the changing value of their labor over time. This piece invites viewers to do more than just participate; it allows them to directly experience how fluid and relative labor is in the capitalist system. It also raises fundamental questions about the economic structures we take for granted.
further more about the artist :
She explores how we can navigate life in a chaotic world, unveiling societal realities through a critical yet sometimes hopeful lens. She employs a variety of mediums, including installation, performance, sculpture, and video, with a strong focus on fostering interaction with the audience. By encouraging active viewer participation and dialogue, Lee seeks to go beyond traditional exhibition formats. She is also interested in expanding the exhibition space into digital platforms such as SNS. Currently, she is organizing an art talk show featuring artists based in Leipzig and Berlin, further developing her exploration of innovative audience engagement.
Her work explores the compromises between the artist's thoughts, influenced by media and society, and her reality. Society forces choices upon individuals, inevitably leading to compromise, which is often dictated by power dynamics. The nature and consequences of compromise are always fluid.
The artist, often referred to as an "anime kid," grew up watching cartoons from a young age and was deeply influenced by them. Within the gap between the world of anime—where justice always prevails and everything unfolds as it should—and the contradictions of reality, the artist explores the paradoxes and inconsistencies of the real world.
The artist, often referred to as an "anime kid," grew up watching cartoons from a young age and was deeply influenced by them. Within the gap between the world of anime—where justice always prevails and everything unfolds as it should—and the contradictions of reality, the artist explores the paradoxes and inconsistencies of the real world.
This work investigates power structures between nations within capitalism through the lens of currency exchange rates. Unlike the fluctuating value of labor within a single country, in a globalized world, identical human labor is translated into different national currencies, and its worth varies according to exchange rates. The economic scale of a nation defines the value of human labor, and further, stratifies both national and individual power and worth. This work seeks to connect Korean and German viewers through simultaneous displays, aiming to explore these disparities in labor value and power across borders.
