Bio

Dongsin Seo focuses on revealing the vulnerable boundaries between abstraction and figuration. His work explores the limits of linguistic representation within the visual realm, often drawing attention to ephemeral states and volatile subjects.

Seo has held solo exhibitions including Silver Bullet (Hoqicm Seoul, 2024), Figure Out (Space 22, Seoul, 2023), and Equation (KT&G Sangsang Madang Hongdae Gallery, Seoul, 2023). His work has also been featured in significant group exhibitions such as the inaugural exhibition STORAGE STORY (Photography Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, 2025), Attachment and Territorial Battles (Sinchon Arts Space, Seoul, 2024), and special exhibitions at major events like the Daegu Photo Biennale Special Exhibition No Signal (Daegu Arts Center, Daegu, 2024) and the Donggang International Photo Festival (Yeongwol, Gangwon, 2024).

He was selected as the Finalist of the Year, the 13th KT&G Korean Photographer’s Fellowship (Seoul, 2023). Seo has published several books, including Entropy (APEAK PRESS, Seoul, 2023), Figure Out (APEAK PRESS, Seoul, 2023) and Equation (KT&G Sangsang Madang, Seoul, 2023).

News:
Book release of Malfunction of Functional Function in spring 2026
Solo show of Malfunction of Functional Function scheduled for September 2026

dongsin seo
@dongsinseo.studio

Malfunction of Functional Function
Project statement

A function describes a relation: once x is given, y follows.

In catalog photography - especially in images that define how things are used - such logic seems to hold. Each image appears precise, as if an intention were entered into an equation and a result produced without residue.

Photographs of objects like PVC Cable Ties, Silicone Corner Protectors, or Skid Resistant Shoe Covers convert language into form with remarkable clarity. Their physical traits and functions align so neatly that the image appears almost self-evident. These are photographs that minimize emotion and narrative, flattening multiple readings into a single, functional surface.

Nevertheless, no image remains purely functional. Every photograph carries variables that escape calculation—traces of culture, habit, or chance. A coin placed for scale, a foot resting at the edge of water: such details exceed their purpose, unsettling the balance between intention and perception. Meaning is displaced, and the image eludes its name.

This project involves constructing functional photographs and shifting them from their original logic. Through reframing and recombination, the work observes how utility falters, how clarity fractures, and how images begin to reveal their own unstable equations—functions that fail, subtly, in the act of seeing.