If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light

The second Daegu Photo Biennale Emerging Photographers Exhibition (DAC EP), held at the Daegu Arts Center, is a special exhibition that highlights young artists exploring new possibilities in contemporary photographic art.

Under the title If We Cannot Travel at the Speed of Light, four artists explore light and time, memory, materiality, and digital environments through diverse artistic approaches, presenting expanded possibilities for photography as a contemporary visual medium.

The exhibition approaches photography not simply as a medium for documenting reality, but as a visual language through which to explore the unseen dimensions of the world and sensations that often remain beyond our immediate perception. 

As art historian Kang Tae Hee posited in Art, Truth, Science (2002), science and technology aiming for linear progress and acceleration leave behind existential blind spots obscured by efficiency in the process of datafying the world. By summoning places and memories left behind by the orbits of technological media flowing at light speed, this exhibition visualizes art's unique “truth” (unconcealment) blossoming in the crevices of life that science fails to explain. Joe U Seong’s Orbit of Earth, which excavates time weathered by the burial of photographs underground, and Cho Hyunsang’s Orbit of Drift, which captures suspended space-time while wandering the boundaries of industrial clusters, expose gaps in perspective. Furthermore, TunaLee’s Orbit of Trace, which engraves debris of memory and history like fossils upon circulating materials, and Park Gahyun’s Orbit of Memory, which reconstructs layers of space-time with preservation materials beyond image flatness, harmonize with their respective wavelengths.

Artist highlights & new commissions
Orbit of Trace: TunaLee
TunaLee reconstructs narratives of displacement and loss drawn from demolished neighborhoods (including Bangbae-dong and Hannam-dong) by exploring the material cycle of limestone. Lee bakes local limestone at 900 degrees Celsius to craft DIY cement panels, upon which archival family photos are UV-printed as modern fossils. By preserving construction debris in resin and binding it with wire, the artist bridges personal memory with the infinite material circulation and “Deep Time” of the earth.

Orbit of Earth: Jeo U Seong
Jeo U Seong engages in a profound ecological and temporal experiment dubbed “Fermented Photographs.” The artist buries photographic prints of agricultural crops in the soil of his parents’ farm in Cheongyang for up to a year, allowing the earth’s moisture and microorganisms to naturally weather and etch unique traces onto the paper. These organic archives are presented in custom handmade wooden frames, accompanied by excavated soil, wooden pallets, and documentary video, creating a synesthetic spatial experience.

Orbit of Memory: Park Ga Hyun
Park Ga Hyun constructs a suspended “room of memories” by gathering remnants of personal loss—such as leaves, bark, and rusted metal shards—collected from her grandmother’s abandoned inn in Bisan-dong, Daegu. Through a meticulous labor of heat-fusing these fragments between discarded bubble wrap and waste vinyl, Park utilizes UV flatbed printing to visualize the fragile yet resilient strata of personal history and time.

Orbit of Drift: Cho Hyunsang
Hyunsang Cho investigates the physical and conceptual boundaries of massive capitalist industrial structures, specifically the semiconductor clusters in Pyeongtaek and Yongin. By installing dark gray architectural partitions that deliberately disrupt linear circulation, Cho forces visitors to physically navigate and “wander” through the space, interacting with varied manifestations of his digital imagery while reflecting on human positioning within contemporary industrial landscapes.

The second DAC EP (Daegu Photo Biennale Emerging Artists Exhibition): If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light

Dates: September 11, 2026 (Friday) & November 1, 2026 (Sunday) / Venue: Hall 11, Daegu Arts Center / Participating artists: Park Ga Hyun, Jeo U Seong, Cho Hyunsang, Tuna Lee.

Curatorial team: Song Yovi Jisun (Curator), Chun Taewon (Assistant Curator), Byun Younghyun (Operation Coordinator) / Critical essay by: Kim Sunyoung, Kwak Yung Bin, Bang Kyoungji, Choi Yeongkeon / Hosted by: Daegu Metropolitan City / Organized by: Daegu Foundation for Culture and Arts (Daegu Arts Center)

Website / Contacts: dpb.hello@gmail.com.