Sunghyeop Seo (b. 1986) questions the notion of "pureness," understood as a state untainted by other elements, and continues his practice of restoring the diverse possibilities that are often eliminated in the process of purification. To this end, he experiments with ways of blending the senses and forms inherent in different media, creating cracks and gaps in the narratives shaped by "pureness" and challenging existing systems and modes of thought.

Sunghyeop Seo calls the method of blending the universal senses shared by various media topological. In addition, he defines the senses derived from the topological methodology as the status senses, and he is establishing its distinctive form.  

In his first solo exhibition 《Topological Sense》 (Alterside, 2020), Sunghyeop Seo explored the idea of a "topological sense" by creating a sensory field where various topologies—between tradition and the contemporary, between visual art and music, and between performer and audience—tensionally interacted within a multidimensional relationship.

The exhibition was filled with sound-producing machines. One such machine repeatedly lifted and dropped a wooden ball onto a rotating drum, resembling both an architectural structure and a sculptural object—while also being perceived as a musical instrument due to its ability to generate sound. 

Within this setting, viewers moved through the space listening to the sounds or contemplated the objects in an effort to locate the source. In that moment, the instruments, once perceived primarily through sound, transitioned into visual objects, shifting from the topology of an instrument to that of a sculpture.

And in the moment one closely examines his indefinable objects, their hybrid nature begins to surface—revealing an intricate entanglement of Eastern instruments and Western architecture, contemporary design and traditional elements. 

The topology of these monumental objects continuously circulates between sculpture and instrument, East and West, tradition and the present, engaging with the space around them. Within this space, individuals become both viewers and performers, as their movements interact with the sound-producing objects, shifting fluidly between the positions of audience and musician.

Seo Sunghyeop addresses issues of topology and perception by constructing hybrid situations in a complex and multidimensional manner. In the exhibition 《Topological Sense》, objects and moving bodies continuously form indeterminate connections through their interactions, creating a hybrid space where music, architecture, sculpture, and performance overlap and intertwine.

In Seo Sunghyeop’s work, no element remains fixed in an absolute position; everything is constantly shifting according to its relationship with the surrounding context. Curator Taehyun Kwon describes his work as “a sensory mass that vibrates between subject and object, part and whole, and across different artistic traditions and genres.”

In his 2021 solo exhibition 《Performance for Topological Sense》 at THIS IS NOT A CHURCH (TINC), Seo Sunghyeop presented a series of installations and performances that responded to the spatial and historical context of the venue, a former church. 

Various objects were scattered throughout the exhibition space, engaging with the audience by reacting to their movements—both visually and sonically. Some of the devices were equipped with motion sensors, which activated sounds or mechanical actions when visitors approached, creating an interactive and relational environment rooted in a “topological sense.”

Each object, as in Seo Sunghyeop’s earlier ‘Topological Sense’ projects, revealed a mutable identity—one in which the boundaries between East and West, between musical instrument and sculpture, were constantly shifting. For instance, the objects in his ‘Sound Paravan’ series produced sounds reminiscent of the gayageum, a traditional Korean string instrument, but their forms incorporated Western molding details and ornamental features, along with structural components drawn from Western instruments such as violins, cellos, violas, and double basses. 

In addition, the artist states that through this work, he aimed to disrupt the conventional status of the paravan (folding screen), which has traditionally functioned merely as a background object, and instead transform it into a central, protagonist-like entity—an autonomous object capable of producing sound and asserting presence.

Meanwhile, another work, Dangsan Column, evoked a scene where differing religious contexts collide and intertwine across temporal and spatial dimensions. Inside a column-shaped structure placed within a space rooted in Christianity—a religion originating in the West—were bells traditionally used in gut, a central ritual of Korean shamanism.

However, speakers installed in this object played sounds recorded inside a Western cathedral, causing the object's status to shift once again and deepening its hybridity. 

Through this, Sunghyeop Seo aimed to create a new resonance by colliding Eastern and Western religious elements within a space that was once a church but is now used as an exhibition venue.

While Sunghyeop Seo’s works have been closely connected to sound, the pieces presented in his 2023 solo exhibition 《Praise of Crossbred》 at Kim Hee Soo Art Center focused more on visual media. The exhibition began from the artist’s personal experiences and the resulting micro-events. 

One large sculpture, Monument #01 (2022), features a Doric capital placed atop a tetrapod, a structure commonly used as a breakwater. The surface of this piece is inscribed with text in Polish, reflecting the artist’s experience of building a family with his Polish wife. The text, translated into Polish, recounts episodes born from the cultural collisions between East and West on a personal level.

Sunghyeop Seo sought to highlight constructed histories and explore shifts in the status of events by inscribing personal and intimate micro-events—rather than significant historical moments typically commemorated—onto monuments. 

In his subsequent work, Monument #02 (2023), the artist engraved hybrid images composed of Eastern and Western illustrations, encyclopedia plates, and tattoo motifs onto the monument. Rather than presenting a narrative tied to a specific event, the arrangement of these images reveals their presence randomly, much like tattoos inked onto the body.

Meanwhile, Allusive Sequence (2023) expresses a continuity of connections by installing scaled-down tetrapods—used in the ‘Monument’ series—like an actual breakwater. While the ‘Monument’ series signified the completion or revelation of events, Allusive Sequence captures the process of event-formation or existence through hybrid continuities. 

This series of works reveals the presence of intertwined, heterogeneous elements that question the notion of singular pureness, or “purebred.” As suggested by the exhibition’s title, the artist transforms and mixes various objects rooted in traditional contexts, disrupting their established statuses and celebrating and forging solidarity among these randomly appearing hybrid existences.

Sunghyeop Seo’s recent works are based on research into material properties and involve either visualizing the concept of “boundaries” or detaching the functions of existing objects to topologically connect them with heterogeneous entities. 

For example, continuing from the ‘Monument’ series, the ‘Exo-Monument’ (2024) series recreates breakwaters using lightweight, flexible materials like leather and rattan. Seo focuses on the fact that both leather and rattan form outer shells that create surface boundaries, and by crafting hollow tetrapods from these materials, he visually explores the boundary space of shells and the characteristics of the materials themselves.

Another recent work, Intake, Exhaust (2024), originates from the topological background that has guided Seo’s creative approach for many years. The title refers to the mechanical action of an engine taking in oxygen and expelling it. Seo draws a parallel between this breathing mechanism and the human act of inhaling and exhaling, connecting it topologically to a harmonica. 

Seo explains that if the mechanism of generation is conceived as a topological homeomorphism in topology, it opens up a new dimension that can connect heterogeneous or hierarchically different entities, functioning as a methodology that creates diverse possibilities. Through this, he continues to explore the spaces between categories and hierarchies as well as boundary zones.

Seo Sunghyeop’s work, which began with questioning whether the concept of ‘purebred’ might itself be constructed, reproduces and transforms hybrid states to reveal the fictional nature of the narratives created by pureness — namely, tradition and the imagined community of the purebred. Recently, his work has expanded from exploring hybrid identities to conceptualizing hybridity as a spatial phenomenon, investigating its meaning in terms of marginality and generation.

 “What I want to express through my work is ultimately this: that we can all be hybrids, and that the imagined communities called ‘ethnicity’ or ‘us’—classified as purebred—may be attempts to validate our own identities. So my work started from questioning whether ‘purebred’ itself might be a constructed idea.”      (Seo Sunghyeop, interview for Soorim Art Lab New Works Support, 2023) 

Seo Sunghyeop majored in design and ran a design studio before transitioning from designer to visual artist to pursue freer creative work. He is currently active as an artist. His solo exhibitions include 《MIXED SUBLIME》 (Art Space Hyeong, Seoul, 2023), 《Praise of Crossbred》 (KimHeeSoo Art Center Art Gallery, Seoul, 2023), 《Performance for Topological Sense》 (TINC, Seoul, 2021), and 《Topological Sense》 (Alterside, Seoul, 2020).
 
He has also participated in various group exhibitions such as 《Connecting the Dots》 (Goyang Aram Arts Center, Goyang, 2024), 《Public Art New Hero》 (K&L Museum, Seoul, 2024), 《Exhibition / Publication》 (WESS, Seoul, 2022), 《Museum Access: Through the Eco-Corridor》 (Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Ansan, 2022), and 《ZER01NE DAY》 (Hyundai Motor Group, Seoul, 2019; 2021). 

Seo Sunghyeop participated as an artist-in-residence at the MMCA Residency Goyang in 2023 and at Seoul Art Space Geumcheon in 2022. He was also selected for the ‘Public Art New Hero’ program in 2023.

References

• 서성협, Sunghyeop Seo (Artist Website)
• 얼터사이드, [서문] 위상감각 (Alterside, [Preface] TOPOLOGICAL SENSE)
• Adocs, [도록] 위상감각을 위한 퍼포먼스 (Adocs, [Catalogue] Performance for Topological Sense)
• 수림문화재단, [작가 인터뷰] 잡종예찬 (Soorim Cultural Foundation, [Artist Interview] Praise of Crossbred)
• 비애티튜드, 이렇게 된 이상 혼종으로 간다