Seung Yun Shin – No End

In 2001 Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson installed his "Windspiegelmauer" ("Wind Mirror Wall") on the firewall of a house near Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. Square mirrors are tracing the floor levels and the stairs onto the outside of the building. The mirrors are moved by the wind in a constant play of reflections. Eliasson produced a kinetic sculpture, the movements happen by chance and whether. Korean artist Seung Yun Shin's installation "No End", it seems the wind rippled on the surface of water. It consists of dozens mirrors too, but here the effect is elaborate. Small square mirrors are arranged onto a panel on the floor, the walls of the gallery space are empty.

I built up a motorized system to put the mirrors in close proximity. Each mirror is moved up and down by motors, in a seesaw-like pattern. The movement of mirrors has varying speeds. In terms of the imagery that is produced, the mirrors and their movement reflect in variety of angles. The motion of face of the piece presents landscape of water. All around walls and ceiling are flood with reflection from mirrors like waterfall. (Seung Yun Shin)

Like a lamp for children beaming stars on the wall's installation is a sublime poetic dream machine for grown-ups. The installation further reminds of the golden mosaics in the basilica cupolas in Rome, where every tessera is fixed in a certain angle to perfectly reflect the light. The whole mosaic thus creates a shimmering space, allowing a glimpse on paradise. Seung Yun Shin seems to inverse the procedure. She takes the little reflectors from the wall and lets her moving "mosaic" reflect the light from the floor in middle of the room. The effect is similar: The space is transformed into a transcendental place lifting the viewer to a higher ground. This sensation can occur in the contemplation of nature too. Landscapes, the power of waterfalls, the mightiness of the sky at day, the infinite cosmos at night and the never ending change of seasons, colors and forms are a constant inspiration for Seung Yun Shin.

When travelling in unfamiliar landscapes, I am often deeply and quickly affected or impacted by these landscapes. Sometimes, this produces a meditative or contemplative impression. Sometimes, this experience seems to speak directly from the landscape itself, coming from various voices rather than a singular voice. Memories of those experiences return in fragments, like torn film or abstracted, reflected from many perspectives.

The interpretation of nature is one of her main subjects. It connects her work to Olafur Eliasson's installations. They share the same pure beauty of the sublime.

SEUNG YUN SHIN received her B.F.A from Hong-Ik University, Korea, in Sculpture in 2004 and her M.F.A. in Sculpture, 2007. In 2009 she completed her M.F.A. the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Art & Technology. Her works have been exhibited in galleries in Chicago and Korea.

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