Title Match, the flagship annual exhibition of the Buk-Seoul Museum of Art, marks its twelfth iteration in 2025 by presenting works from Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries (YHCHI) and Hong Jin-hwon. This exhibition begins with a critical awareness of the near impossibility of forming a seamlessly connected community in which all the complex interests of its members are reconciled. Through these works by YHCHI and Hong Jin-hwon, the exhibition examines the conditions under which political acts emerge, with both artists exploring how art can intervene in social phenomena and generate new political possibilities.
Whereas YHCHI points to the contradictions of contemporary society and seeks to provoke debate through fictional scenarios and literary works, Hong Jin-hwon seeks to awaken the reality-driving power inherent in photographic images as he recontextualizes past events from a present perspective. The two artists probe the limits of text and image through processes such as slippage, fragmentation, recombination, delay, and restoration of text and image, while at the same time experimenting with new possibilities in terms of text and image. In this way, they pose the question of whether art truly has the power to bring about change in the world, with neither artist leading a given subject toward a single conclusion or answer in their work. Instead, the artists carefully trace the divisions and conflicts embedded within their works, and foster the awakening of each individual viewer by deferring any definitive conclusion so that visitors can form their own judgements through layered perspectives and interpretations.
The exhibition title No Middle Ground is drawn from political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s The Social Contract. By reinterpreting the phrase “there is no middle ground” in relation to the general will, the exhibition seeks to highlight the dynamic state of disagreement among the many rather than assuming a peaceful consensus among all members of society or diametrically opposite conditions―such as a binary logic of either-or and black and white thinking.
In this context, what matters most is the ability to examine the given situations critically. Through their respective practices, YHCHI and Hong Jin-hwon visualize the tensions and conflicts that exist within communities, demonstrating that art can serve as a space for posing questions and provoking debate. Indeed, their works invite visitors to confront tensions and energies that arise from discord within any community, as well as complex interpretations that resist reduction to binary choices, ultimately encouraging reflection on contemporary phenomena from multiple perspectives.
