Samsung, LG, Com2uS and Hyundai are just four of the many technology companies that reinforce South Korea’s leading role in forward-looking technological development and innovation.  Is it any surprise therefore that this overflows into the artistic world?

While the work of South Korean artist Nam June Paik (1932-2006) was one of the highlights of this year’s Frieze London, with the exhibition of his career at Tate Modern shows what a genius he was, combining technology, music, performance and art, often with great wit, exploring the connections between western and eastern cultures, along with an interest in Buddhism, the Korean Cultural Centre UK continues to bring new South Korean artists to London, showing innovation and links to technology which stretch the imagination.

Kang Jungsuck, the KCCUK 2019 Artist of the Year and a winner of the BALTIC Artists’ Award 2019, incorporates technology, gaming culture and K-pop, taking the Futurama exhibit shown at the 1939 New York World’s Fair as a starting point – which imagined how the world might be 20 years into the future – and is also referenced in the Victoria & Museum’s exhibition ‘Cars: Accelerating the Modern World’.

Kang continues this theme of looking into the future in this exhibition curated by Emma Dean (BALTIC) and Jaemin Cha (KCCUK) with the added dimension of exploring how the future may be seen from different perspectives, cultures and, perhaps, generations – Kang himself being born in 1984.

What are the parallels between gaming, technology, art and society?