Michael Joo: Sweat Models 1991–2026

Space ZeroOne announces Michael Joo: Sweat Models 1991–2026, an exhibition focused on the early works by acclaimed Korean American multimedia artist Michael Joo, organized by guest curator Christopher Y. Lew, founder of C/O: Curatorial Office. Opening February 20, 2026, Sweat Models marks ZeroOne’s first solo exhibition of the year in New York City.  

Sweat Models returns to a formative period in Joo’s practice, bringing together rarely shown works from the 1990s alongside projects conceived decades ago and now realized for the first time. Joo’s works from the 1990s are informed, in part, by major issues of the time, including the AIDS crisis and the mass adoption of information technology. Seen today, they read more as anticipations of the present rather than historical artifacts, raising questions about how bodies are abstracted, information should or should not be trusted, and meaning is produced in increasingly mediated systems. 

At the center of the exhibition is a newly realized large-scale installation, Concatenations, which was first conceived by Joo in 1990. Composed of hundreds of stacked aluminum trays and objects that reference his own artistic archive and community, the work maps a dense network of influence, repetition, and inquiry. Joo has described the piece as a “physical, large language model”, a material system of memory and reflection trained in his evolving practice. 

“Revisiting these early works is like tracing a network of ideas that has been evolving for decades,” said Michael Joo. “The exhibition brings those foundational questions about materiality, data, and identity into focus at a moment when the relationship between art and technology is being reexamined. Presenting the work in New York adds another layer of meaning, extending a conversation that has always been central to my practice.” 

“I’ve followed Michael’s work for nearly 20 years, and the early pieces feel remarkably prescient today,” said Christopher Y. Lew.  “They engage the body, science, and technology in ways that resonate strongly with how artists are thinking now. Presenting this exhibition at ZeroOne, a gallery founded around international exchange and experimentation, brings those questions into sharper focus and underscores their relevance in the present.” 

“Sweat Models establishes an important point of reference for Space ZeroOne’s program,” said Jade Lim, Director of Exhibitions of the Hanwha Foundation of Culture. “Rooted in supporting emerging artists as they move from local contexts to global platforms, ZeroOne sees this exhibition as a way to extend that mission through a broader intergenerational continuum of experimentation and exchange. By tracing Michael Joo’s artistic trajectory, the exhibition offers emerging artists a concrete reference for how a practice can accumulate and expand over time. His experience of gaining international attention through the Korean Pavilion at the 2001 Venice Biennale also underscores the enduring importance of platforms that bring local artists onto the global stage.” 

Prior to becoming an artist, Joo studied biology at Wesleyan University and worked as a researcher in plant genetics. That training continues to inform his work, grounding it in systems of measurement while probing the limits and failures of quantification.  

Throughout the exhibition, the human body is central yet largely absent. Instead, it is approached through description, measurement, and substitution. Sensory experience is implied through materials associated with taste and smell, while industrial components, laboratory equipment, and synthetic sweat and tears serve as replenishable stand-ins for bodily fluids. By adopting the rigor of scientific methods, Joo exposes both the vulnerability of the body and the constructed nature of identity itself. 

On the mezzanine level, Michael Joo will present a newly developed installation distinct from the early works on view on the main floor. The work extends Joo’s ongoing investigations into modular growth and spatial continuity, and connects—visually and conceptually— the upper level to the gallery below. 

Michael Joo
Michael Joo (b. 1966, Ithaca, New York) has long operated at the intersection of technology, identity, and material culture. Working across sculpture, painting, photography, and installation, he draws on systems of classification and measurement, the language of laboratory research, and the contradictions embedded in data-driven thinking. The exhibition traces how this approach took shape in the 1990s and how, over time, it expanded beyond the individual body toward broader philosophical questions informed by both Western and non-Western traditions. 

His work is held in numerous public collections worldwide, including the Brooklyn Museum; Denver Art Museum; Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery; Guggenheim Museum; Harvard Art Museums; Savannah College of Art and Design; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; UCLA Hammer Museum; Walker Art Center; and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Major exhibitions include Perspectives: Michael Joo, Smithsonian Freer / Sackler Museum, Washington, DC; 49th Venice Biennale, Korean Pavilion; Sensory Meridian, Kavi Gupta, Chicago; Michael Joo: Conserving Momentum (Egg/Gyro/Laundry Room), White Cube, London; Michael Joo: Drift, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT; Michael Joo: Drift (Bronx), The Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York; Michael Joo: Doppelgänger, Cass Sculpture Foundation, Sussex, UK; Michael Joo, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Michael Joo Still Lives, BOHEN Foundation; and Michael Joo Retrospective, Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art, Palm Beach, Florida. 

Space ZeroOne
Space ZeroOne is a new initiative of the Hanwha Foundation of Culture, extending the foundation’s longstanding commitment to cultural exchange and artistic experimentation into the heart of New York’s art world. ZeroOne is a venue dedicated to emerging voices, risk-taking, and dialogue across cultures. Through exhibitions, commissions, and public programs, ZeroOne supports emerging and underrecognized artists worldwide in addition to Korean and Korean diasporic practitioners, while engaging the broader ecosystem of contemporary art in New York. Hayoung Chung serves as Curator/Head of Space ZeroOne. 

The Hanwha Foundation of Culture 
The Hanwha Foundation of Culture supports artists and cultural initiatives that foster international dialogue and innovation through partnerships, residencies, and exhibitions across Asia, Europe, and North America. In collaboration with the Centre Pompidou, the foundation is establishing a major new art museum, Centre Pompidou Hanwha, presenting landmark exhibitions from the Pompidou’s collection and its own special exhibitions, alongside educational and public programs. The foundation also administers the Youngmin International Artist Residency Grant, established through a generous bequest from the late Mrs. Seo Young Min, wife of Hanwha Chairman Kim Seung Yeon, and a devoted arts patron. The program offers emerging Korean artists opportunities to participate in leading residencies worldwide, supporting their artistic development and fostering international exchange. Together, these initiatives reflect Hanwha’s commitment to building a sustainable arts ecosystem and strengthening cultural dialogue across borders.