Deleted Space and Afterimage

Installation with wooden structure, collage (digital print and cyanotype), stone, metal, wood, and led lights 

4x16 ft

Deleted Space and Afterimage, a solo exhibition by Yoo Kyung Lee, presents a sculptural installation that explores the historical Japanese General Government Building in Korea. The building was built during the colonization period, and demolished in 1995 as celebrating the 50th anniversary of liberation. Lee wants to address the absence of buildings that she must have passed countless times as a child, and the loss of awareness of history and time embedded in the building  that comes from the absence of physical structure.

The installation is composed of a squared structure with a wooden frame that sits on the floor. Underneath the structure there is a collage made out of the floor plans of the building and cyanotypes. The structure contains construction materials, including wood, metal and stone, and ceiling lights that mimic remnants of the ground floor after a building has been demolished. Deleted Space and Afterimage explores the void left by modern structures that once existed and then vanished, and the choices made during the process of demolition. By juxtaposing architectural drawings created before the building was built with the debris left behind after the building was demolished, the work addresses the loss of physical building, as well as the differing interpretations (controversies) of the government's decision and the historical context over time.