Hyundai Motorstudio Beijing: Weather Station

Weather Station was an exhibition by artists MOON Kyungwon & JEON Joonho that focused on redefining the relationship between humans, non-humans, and nature in the era of artificial intelligence, proposing new attitudes and approaches to climate and the environment. The exhibition navigated various technologies and mediums, including AI, video, installation, and drawings, integrating thematic narratives into a multi-sensory spatial experience.

“To Build a Fire” (2022-24), inspired by Jack London’s eponymous 1902 short story, is an immersive installation that tells the story of Earth’s millennia-old climate change since before the extinction of dinosaurs, all from the perspective of an AI-generated stone. Visitors are guided by the quadruped robot ‘Spot,’ which acts as an explorer, documenting and gathering evidence of human history while simultaneously measuring the carbon levels of the exhibition space. Spot’s role in the exhibition was realized through a collaboration with Hyundai Motor Group's Robotics LAB, which developed a lightweight carbon monitoring device.

The video installation “News from Nowhere: ECLIPSE” (2012-)—originating from an interdisciplinary and participatory platform initiated by MOON Kyungwon & JEON Joonho in 2012—explores the social role and function of art. The work portrays a lone protagonist struggling for survival on a rescue ship in a virtual reality, seeking to resolve fundamental inconsistencies in the world by bridging the gap between the real and the unreal.

Another installation, “Mobile Agora” (2022), also serves as a participatory platform, where experts from various fields—such as designers and scientists—can discuss the rapidly changing climate and foster creative collaborations. The accompanying artworks on display emerged from ideas developed in collaboration with experts from the platform.

For one artwork, “Shenu: Hydrolemic System” (2022), MOON Kyungwon & JEON Joonho collaborated with the Tokyo-based design engineering group Takram to develop an artificial organ designed to supply water to the human body in a water-scarce future. In another collaboration, MOON Kyungwon & JEON Joonho teamed up with the Rotterdam-based architectural group MVRDV—who had previously worked on their series “News from Nowhere”—to create a new autonomous city model, “I City/We-City” (2022). The model envisions a future environment in which continents have disappeared due to rising sea levels, featuring bubble-shaped cities that float on water. Each city has independent functions and roles, dispersing and converging repeatedly to form a new structure.

The exhibition featured a series of discussions and interactive events designed to engage local experts from various sectors and enhance the public's experience, with an emphasis on our collective future.

Working as a duo since 2009, MOON Kyungwon & JEON Joonho have been exploring the role of art in a rapidly changing world and the challenges faced by mankind, such as political and economic contradictions, historical conflict and climate change. Their best-known project is "News from Nowhere" (2012 til now), an interdisciplinary and participatory platform that aims to reflect on contemporary society and propose visions for the future by collaborating with experts from diverse fields, including design, science, philosophy, economics and politics. Notable exhibitions include Kassel Documenta 13, Germany (2012), School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA (2013), the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Italy (2015), Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Swiss (2015), Tate Liverpool, UK (2018-2019), National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea (2021–2022), Art Sonje Center, Seoul, Korea (2022), and 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan (2022). MOON Kyungwon is based in Seoul and works as a professor at the College of Art & Design, Ewha Womans University. JEON Joonho lives and works in Busan and Seoul.