The Motion of Objects and the Commodification of Labor (2024)
Nam, Woong (Art Critic)
Translated from the original Korean
The Flash of the Object’s Motion
A typewriter prints onto paper, which is immediately fed into a shredder, cutting the paper apart in real time. The shredder operates unpredictably, beyond the artist’s control. Nearby, a box filled with wall clocks—each set to different times—is encased in concrete. The clocks’ glass is shattered, frozen in time.
These opposing movements coexist within a single moment: one inscribing and continuing, the other erasing and destroying. Each object functions as expected, yet the conflicting elements either come into contact or collide. The viewer who tries to see through the telescope comes to see the crown of their own head instead of what they may have expected to see.
HUH Naehoon constructs objects that betray their intended use, consistently pairing them with contradictory functions. As the functions and movements contradict each other, the original utility of the objects becomes obsolete, reducing them to tools for illustrating a paradox. The spark of ideas that conceptualize objects deviating from their expected use and the physical manifestation of tension and unease. Yet, as these gestures repeat, one begins to question whether they risk becoming monotonous or fragmented, rather than evolving into more complex forms of critique. In other words, doesn’t the practice of disrupting an objects’ expected function and inertia, paradoxically depend on the predetermined roles and logic of ‘ready-made’.
In HUH’s early works, instead of using mass-produced objects, she constructed sculptural forms with materials like paper and plaster. In The Great Wave (2014), a sculptural mass evokes the image of an overwhelming wave, instilling unease through its sheer volume and weight-, yet the work does not explain its background or causal relationship. HUH’s approach employs keywords and sensory experiences with wit, but focus on specific sites and situations rather than broader historical or contextual frameworks. Her sculptural method compresses contradiction and tension into individual objects, evoking aphorisms than extended discourse. Yet, does the deliberate juxtaposition of opposing sensory functions and material properties, by emphasizing its impact, erase the background and meaning of objects? This concern ties into the earlier question of whether her practice still relies on the preexisting functions and perceptions of objects. How can the fragmented and scattered objects in her work critically engage with their gaps and discontinuities? Could her sculptural approach incorporate time-based considerations, allowing decontextualized objects to be reconstructed or recontextualized in a new way?
However, this kind of reading risks reducing her work to an analysis of objecthood alone. To avoid such a limitation, one must consider how the collision of opposing materials and functions elicits sensory and emotional responses in viewers. One can examine how HUH translates abstract effects into the tangible form and how the interactions between the object and perception shifts the positional and hierarchical relationship between the subject and object?
HUH categorizes her work into three conceptual frameworks: I, We, and Objects. These categories structure her practice and offer multiple perspectives for interpretation, shaping how her work engages with different contexts and modes of perception. HUH’s work allows viewers to observe how they project their desires and habitual perceptions onto objects. At the same time, she questions what cultural and behavioral norms are embedded in how people follow the predetermined functions of readymade objects. Her work prompts a re-evaluation of the hierarchy between subject and object. By juxtaposing objects with opposing functions or altering them to counteract their expected use, HUH disrupts ingrained sensory perceptions. These interventions remind us that objects are not merely passive tools but are active in shaping perception. The dislocation of function in her work raises a broader inquiry—whether our sensory and perceptual systems are inherently tied to the material and kinetic properties of the objects and phenomena—this line of questioning runs throughout her practice.
The Flash of the Commodification of Labor
After spending over a decade in Germany, HUH’s return to Korea marked a shift in her approach. She has moved from manipulating individual objects to working with fragmentation and reassembly on a larger scale. She cuts landscapes into fragments and rearranges them, juxtaposing live satellite trajectory graphs with GPS-tracked locations and images from street-level screens.
These filtered images can appear as excessive information and physical, sensory material. Rather than refining these images into isolated objects, HUH employs a method of continuous cutting and sequential division, creating compositions that resemble reassembled fragments.
Her recent works explore what she calls “pollution”— the unwanted noise and overwhelming visuals that define Korea’s urban environment in contrast to her experiences in Germany. This shift in focus suggests a transformation in her practice from altering individual objects to a process-driven approach to breaking down and reconstructing visual elements. Unlike her earlier works, where she manipulated objects by stripping them of context and function, her recent process involves destruction and reconfiguration. She no longer uses objects solely as conceptual material but instead continuously cuts, rearranges, and juxtaposes images.
Through this labor-intensive repetition, HUH shifts her focus from decontextualizing objects to reassembling fragments—exploring function, perception, and the processes through which images and meaning are constructed. A closer reading of HUH’s recent works suggests a shift in her engagement with objects and machines. Whereas she previously nullified functionality by juxtaposing opposing functions or selectively reconstructing elements, in Heterogeneous Coexistence and Fragmented Image: Destruction and Regeneration, she engages directly in repetitive mechanical labor. By performing actions that contradict function and interacting with misaligned objects and devices, she critically appropriates her past methodology—where objects and machines were once tools; they are now part of the act itself.
HUH’s process involves continuously cutting and reassembling images, which mirrors mechanical labor. Optical devices with different functions capture and juxtapose varied perspectives. If machines take over the act of seeing, exceeding human sensory capacities, HUH’s repeated cutting and reconfiguration introduce a counterforce. Slicing and rearranging images becomes a mechanical repetition, displacing visual coherence into noise.
Displayed alongside these works, 36°37° (2023) consists of a cylindrical object slightly taller than the average human, retains warmth at body temperature. If HUH, surrounded by noise and in a state of mental dispersion, moves repetitively in a machine-like manner—altering complete forms and producing visual disruptions—this object which emits human warmth acts as a counterpoint. It suggests a shift in agency, transferring bodily presence onto an external object, forcing the viewer to acknowledge the displacement. An object retaining warmth similar to body temperature, which should belong to the human, is displaced, prompting its recognition. If someone immersed in mechanical labor reabsorbs this artificial warmth, how do they navigate the entangled relationship between their body and the surrounding world of objects, continuously producing transformed outcomes through this ongoing process?