Geumhyung Jeong’s Under Construction

It was a cold, dark evening when we made our way from the Cog Studio to the ICA.  Arriving early, we settled in for a reasonably priced cocktail in the stylish bar.

It soon became clear that none of us knew what to expect from the performance art piece. All we knew was that it involved robotics of some sort.  

As we were finishing up our drinks, a staff member came over to chat and tempered our expectations by telling us that it was a ‘meditative’ performance and, as she’d watched it once already, she wouldn’t be sitting in that evening. It didn’t fill us with faith!

So we filed apprehensively into the ICA’s lower gallery space, preparing ourselves to experience Geumhyung Jeong’s Under Construction.

We were seated in a window alcove which offered a partially obscured view of the performance space. I rather enjoyed the novelty of being perched on the building itself rather than a seat, so I didn’t overly mind.

The performance space was dotted with different clusters of synthetic human bone and robotic modules. The room buzzed with anticipation as we watched Jeong make adjustments to the clusters.

I should admit that I wasn’t actually sure if the performance had started or not at this point.

But, luckily, the beginning of the performance was marked with a monologue delivered by Jeong in an emotionless monotone, eyes staring dead ahead, cold and mechanical. She spoke briefly of her mission to replicate human movement with machines. She then transitioned into a series of choreographed, repetitive movements, yoga-like in their precision and rhythm (impressively limber). Her attention then moved to the skeletal machines, painstakingly connecting wires and inserting batteries with the utmost care. Once activated, the machines would quiver into life, flailing about in a jerky, unsettling way – failing to capture the movements demonstrated by Jeong, resulting in uncanny and incomplete mimicry.

For each wirey clump, the cycle repeated: the monologue, the choreography, the meticulous fiddling, and finally the activation which failed to replicate human movement.  Before switching on the machines, she also paused for a moment of silent prayer- a ritual that brought the theme of creator and creation to mind each time.

The relationship between Jeong and her creations oscillated between tenderness and frustration. There was care in how she handled them but also a sense of agonising labour. Watching her plug in each component piece by piece (and at a snail’s pace) was both mesmerising and exasperating. On top of that, it was Sisyphean: she seemed forever committed to assembling something that could never truly succeed and therefore never be complete.

Alex noted that it was like watching someone painstakingly set up an enormous percussion section that barely gets used, pregnant with potential.  Each motion, each gesture seemed full of latent energy, as though at any moment the room would erupt. It didn’t though. No two groups of machines were on simultaneously. Instead, we were kept in this liminal space – waiting for the crescendo that never came. This was a credit to the piece, successfully creating a heavy tension in the room, and strengthening the hypnotic quality of her repetitive practice.

Mid performance, the thought how on earth have I found myself here ran through my mind a few times. The oddness of the performance was emphasised by the contrasting sound of London that was seeping through the window alcove from the bustling Mall.

As the performance concluded and Geumhyung Jeong stepped out of character, her beaming smile was a revelation. It was an abrupt shift from the mechanical detachment of the performance to a moment of human warmth, underscoring the sheer talent and discipline that had carried the piece.

Under Construction was not an easy watch. It was meditative, repetitive, and at times exasperating, but it was also oddly captivating.

While some moments tested my patience and attention span, others drew me in completely, leaving me hypnotised by the absurdity of it all. Odd and unsettling, Under Construction left me reflecting on effort, failure, and the futility of trying to replicate what makes us human.