Yangachi South Korea, b. 1970

Yangachi (b. 1970) is one of the most significant media artists in South Korea who has shared possibilities for new forms of media and their social, cultural, and political implications through a critical lens since the early 2000s. Under the pseudonym of “Yangachi”, an ID which he has been using since his earlier web-based works, he has collaborated with musicians, dancers, architects, and writers to produce experimental and expansive works that lie beyond convention. Notable projects include Yangachi Guild (2006), where the artist deploys online shopping as a metaphor for socio-political landscape of South Korea; eGovernment (2003), vitriol at mass surveillance; Middle Corea: Yangachi Episode I, II, III (2008-2009), an experiment on how powerful media storytelling can be; Bright Dove Hyunsook (2010), on what lies between the real and the virtual by a CCTV-documented performance; When Two Galaxies Merge (2017), an attempt at bringing two sensorial realms together, and Galaxy Express (2020),a world as a network of things where the line between subject and object, human body and matter, the artificial and nature, cease to exist. 

    Yangachi lives and works in Seoul, South Korea. He studied Sculpture at Suwon University College of Art & Design and received his MFA in Media Arts from Yonsei University Graduate School of Communication and Arts. His works have been exhibited nationally via National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea (2016, 2013, 2012, 2004); Seoul Media City Biennale, Korea (2018, 2010); Busan Biennale, Korea (2016); Gangwon Biennale, Korea (2018); Seoul Museum of Art, Korea (2016, 2015); Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Korea (2018, 2011, 2010); Arko Museum of Art, Korea (2017, 2020); and Nam June Park Art Center, Korea (2016, 2015, 2008). His works have been included in numerous international exhibitions and events in France, Hong Kong, Japan, Germany, the United States, and Chile. Recipient of the Hermes Missulssang Award in 2010, Yangachi has his works housed in several prominent institutions such as National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Seoul Museum of Art,Gyeonggi Museum of Art, and Amore Pacific Museum of Art.