BIO
Jin Jung (b. 1981, Seoul) is a visual artist living and working in Jersey City, NJ.
Trained as an architect at the Rhode Island School of Design, Jung worked as a designer in NYC before attending MIT for her Master's degree. Since then, she has worked as an artist assistant to world-renowned artist Lawrence Weiner until his recent passing and continues to work with pioneering performance, video, and installation artist Joan Jonas. After many years of focusing on her work in exhibition design installing shows at institutions like Dia Beacon, MoMA, Haus der Kunst, and the Tate, Jung returned to her artmaking in 2019.
Whether creating design or art, Jin believes in creating shelters, physical or ephemeral, as her principal responsibility. Her use of the temporality of time-based media provides space for the constantly changing dynamics of our everyday. Her practice takes form somewhere between sculpture and performance. They result in sculptural objects, videos, performances, and environments that often involve playful social intervention.
Below is a list of her concerns elaborating on the topics of interest:
1. Why do we say that?
Learning English as her second language, Jin has taken quite a fascination with the language. Idioms, definitions, and etymologies, often offer a starting point for her artistic investigation. Examples of these beginnings include Weight on the shoulder, Crocodile tears, and Stretched thin.
2. How do we know we exist?
This never-ending question is the main driver in the artist's studio. The dependency of self and others, me and you, for the assurance of our existence is a constant riddle. She seeks new ways to see herself with others and others in relationship to herself.
3. Do you trust me?
The participatory nature of the performance forces the recognition of trust and its fragility. The artist needs help from the audience to complete the work. She has to prove her dependability. Sculptural art objects she uses during the performances are the only things that can mediate to prove her trustworthiness.
4. Play vs. Reality
The interactions between the artist and participants depend on many factors including past personal experiences. They can not be controlled or limited. What happens is what it is. In essence, they are chaotic and unpredictable. But there is an undeniable feeling of safety in abstract environments. The suspension from reality allows her work to be always sincere, but not always serious.
Jung received a 2022 Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and a 2022 Individual Artist Fellowship from the Jersey City Arts Council. Her collaborative project, WERE HERE JC, earned the 2022 Jersey City Arts Council's Public Art Award.
See her 10-min portfolio here.
Education
2007-2009
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Master of Science in Visual Studies
2000-2005
Rhode Island School of Design
Bachelor of Architecture
Bachelor of Fine Arts
Selected Events & Exhibitions
Upcoming
NJ Climate Resilience Community-Based Public Art Project
(Moorestown, NJ)
TBC
July 2023
"Veterans’ Voices: An evening of Crankie Storytelling," ArtYard Center (Frenchtown, NJ)
Performance
June 2023
"Playing Silly Games," Evening Star Studio (Jersey City, NJ)
Group Show
March 2022
"Kathleen Collins Back Home in Jersey City: Losing Ground," JCTC at White Eagle Hall (Jersey City, NJ)
Screening event for "WERE HERE JC"
September 2021
“Hatak,” North Willow Attic
Virtual presentation of “Luck of the Draw”
May 2021
"Hold," Jersey City Public Library Community Awareness Series (Zoom)
Artist Workshop
November 2019
“Outsider,” The Box at Jersey City Theater Center (Jersey City, NJ)
Performative presentation of “538 Bergen Ave”
July 2019
"This 'n That," Drawing Rooms (Jersey City, NJ)
Performative presentation of "Embody: To Give a Body to a Spirit"
May 2019
"Index," Index Art Center (Newark, NJ)
Group Show
May 2019
"Somewhere We Landed," Drawing Rooms (Jersey City, NJ)
Group Show
May 2015
"Overshare," ASC PROJECTS (San Francisco, CA)
Group Show
October 2012
"Artist Medical Residency," O+ Festival (Kingston, NY)
Participatory Performance
August 2010
"Medical Artist Residency & Freestanding Artist," Three Walls (Chicago, IL)
Performance
February 2010
"BYOA: Bring Your Own Art," X-Initiative (New York, NY)
Group Show
May-June 2009
"... and things of that nature," The Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts (Boston, MA)
Visual Arts Program Group Show
April 2009
"Waves and Signs," Center for Advanced Visual Studies (Cambridge, MA)
Conference and Workshop: Low-Frequency Vibration
April 2009
"Appendages," MIT (Cambridge, MA)
Graduate Arts Forum
February 2008
"Take My Weight Off Your Shoulders," MIT (Cambridge, MA)
Performance / Mental Health Awareness Panel
May 2008
"Articulare," MIT (Cambridge, MA)
Visual Arts Program Group Show
Awards, Residencies & Participations
2023-2024
Grant for NJ Climate Resilience Community-Based Public Art Project
NJ DEP and the NJ State Council on the Arts
September 2023
Theodore Conrad Preservationist Award
WERE HERE JC
Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy
July 2023
Artist in Residence
The LAB at ArtYard / coLAB Arts (Frenchtown, NJ)
January - May 2023
Artist in Residence
NJCU / DEFCon via Mellon Foundation (Jersey City, NJ)
December 2022
Public Art Award
WERE HERE JC
Jersey City Arts Council
June 2022
Individual Artist Fellowship Grant Award
Jersey City Arts + Culture Trust Fund
March 2022
Individual Artist Fellowship Award
New Jersey State Council on the Arts
February 2019
NYFA Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program (Newark, NJ)
Reviews & Blogs
"WERE HERE JC highlights artist/NJCU alum Charles Gaines as BFA show closes May 15." NJ.com. 13 March 2023.
Click to read
"Screening, Q&A for Jersey City native Kathleen Collins’ seminal ‘Losing Ground,’ March 16 at White Eagle Hall." NJ.com. 9 March 2022.
Click to read
"Were Here JC: Artists documenting many important yet unacknowledged people and places of Jersey City." NJ.com. 2 June 2021.
Click to read
"The Architectural League of New York | Submission Themes." Archleague.org. Mar. 2013.
Click to read
Driscoll, Megan. "And Things of That Nature @BCA." Big Red & Shiny. Issue#1088. Jun 2009.
Click to read
Martin, Hannah. "An Artist's Nature." The Huntington News. 20 May 2009.
Click to read