Art & Technology Master’s Degree Student Won Jong-kuk

Selected as 2022 ‘New Hero’ by Public Art Magazine

Won Jong-kuk, a master’s degree student in the Art & Technology Department, was selected as a ‘New Hero’ of 2022 by Public Art, one of Korea’s leading contemporary art magazines.

The New Hero program is annually organized by Public Art to discover prospective emerging artists. It aims to discover competent artists across all genres of visual art, from two-dimensional planes, three-dimensional space, and media to video art, making efforts to introduce these artists’ creative and experimental works.

Under the pseudonym ‘Unhappy Circuit,’ Won Jong-kuk has been pursuing multi-disciplinary art activities while focused on the convergence of science, art, and technology. Recently, with the specific purpose of communicating with outer-space intelligent life, Won formed a new interstellar message converted into a work of art to communicate and share with the general public. This artwork, introduced in Ars Electronica, ART Gallery, SIGGRAPH Asia, and FACT Magazine, is currently owned by the Asia Culture Center and Korea’s Jeju Museum of Contemporary Art.

Speaking about the honor, Won said, “I feel very proud regarding my selection as one of the leading young contemporary artists.” He added, “I believe the ‘New Hero’ designation is an acknowledgment of my hitherto efforts and, going forward, it will serve as a powerful driver behind my upcoming art activities.”

Won Jong-kuk and the six other artists selected as part of Public Art’s New Hero 2022 were officially introduced in the May edition of Public Art. The magazine will exclusively cover each featured artist over the next seven months.