Installation view
of 《The Internet Barnacles》 ©G GalleryG Gallery presents a solo exhibition, 《The Internet Barnacles》, by Yehwan Song, until February 15.
Yehwan Song focuses on the ecological
characteristics of barnacles in this exhibition. Building on her previous works
addressing the discomfort and anxiety of digital users hidden beneath the veil
of digital colonialism, technological utopianism, and expansionist ideologies,
she presents a series of works exploring the relationship between users and
platforms.
Installation view
of 《The Internet Barnacles》 ©G GallerySong's work critiques the excessive
convenience of contemporary digital environments, which are increasingly
homogenized and constrained by standardized platforms. Simultaneously, it
explores marginalized cultural and linguistic identities within this ecosystem,
capturing the underlying anxieties of its users.
The exhibition unfolds as a narrative
movement, starting from the surface where users and interfaces first meet, and
descending into the depths of the digital abyss. As visitors descend deeper
into the exhibition space, they experience increasingly dense layers of digital
ecology, like plunging into oceanic depths.
Installation view
of 《The Internet Barnacles》 ©G GalleryThrough this immersive environment, Yehwan
Song draws a parallel between digital constraint and the existential challenge
of deep-sea exploration. Both spaces rely on external systems for survival,
where the scarcity of subjectivity reflects the scarcity of oxygen, and the
pressure from surrounding forces shapes every movement and choice.
At the same time, her work reminds us that,
even while swimming through the tumultuous currents of digital infrastructure,
the essential, irreducible human nature persists beneath our networked
existence.
