Sensory Milieu

Artists: Goo Gijeong, Kim Yunchul, Kim Hyeongsuk, Moon Changhwan, Jung Seung, Norimichi Hirakawa, Semiconductor, Zheng Da

Gwangju Media Art Platform (G.MAP), which has expanded the experimental nature and discourse of media art through the convergence of art and technology, presents its 2025 special exhibition, Sensory Milieu. The exhibition takes its title from a concept developed by French philosopher Jacques Rancière (b. 1940), who understood media in art not simply as tools of artistic production, but as a “sensory milieu”—an environment that reshapes how we perceive and experience the world. Drawing on this idea, the exhibition explores the relationships between technology and nature, humans and non-humans, creating a space that reimagines the hierarchy of the senses.

 “All things equally exist, yet they do not exist equally.”[1]

For a long time, the world has assigned roles and positions to all forms of existence according to a rational order. As a result, some beings are made visible, while others remain hidden; some sounds are recognized as meaningful speech, while others are dismissed as mere noise. In this way, the rational hierarchy has dictated how each being is sensed and perceived. The concept of a sensory milieu, however, refers to a state in which such distinctions no longer hold. Within this environment, every being has its own share—its rightful place—and appears as something that can be seen and heard. The exhibition challenges these established sensory hierarchies and proposes new ways of perceiving the world.

“Everything that exists is filtered through the sieve of human experience...”[2]

In a human-centered world, technology has developed primarily for human convenience, serving as a means to achieve specific ends. Similarly, in the realm of art, technology has traditionally played a secondary role, assisting in the creation of artworks. However, with the recent advancement of self-generating technologies—such as deep learning, generative AI, and real-time data processing—technology is now capable of autonomous and active behavior. In step with these changes, technology is increasingly recognized as an independent, creative agent in the art-making process.

The eight artists (or teams) featured in this exhibition view technology as a subject on equal footing with humans, engaging in diverse experiments at the intersection of art and technology. Their works bring to the fore entities that have long remained unseen or excluded—from fine particles and seismic waves to data and marginalized beings. They seek to dismantle the existing order that has hierarchized all forms of existence. In doing so, the exhibition envisions an environment in which all beings can be equally perceived and expressed, creating a multilayered space for thought that expands the boundaries of perception and awareness. 

1) Ian Bogost, Alien Phenomenology, or What It’s Like to Be a Thing, translated by Kim Hyojin, Galmuri, 2022, p. 35.
2) Ibid, p. 18. 

Hosted and organized by Gwangju Media Art Platform (G.MAP) / Directed by Heokyung Kim (Director, G.MAP) / Curated by Soyeong Choi (Curator, G.MAP) with assistance from Yejin Hwang (Exhibition Coordinator, G.MAP).

Cooperated by 798CUBE