2026 Daegu Photo Biennale : The 2nd DAC EP (Emerging Photographers Exhibition)

Dates: September 11, 2026 (Friday) – November 1, 2026 (Sunday) Venue: Hall 11, Daegu Arts Center Participating Artists: Park Ga Hyun, JEO U SEONG, Cho Hyunsang, TUNALEE About 2026 Daegu Photo Biennale Announces the 2nd DAC EP (Emerging Photographers Exhibition): If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light Curatorial Team: Song Yovi Jisun (Curator), Chun Taewon (Assistant Curator), Byun Younghyun (Operation Coordinator) Hosted by: Daegu Metropolitan City Organized by: Daegu Foundation for Culture and Arts (Daegu Arts Center) DAEGU, SOUTH KOREA – The Daegu Arts Center is pleased to announce the 2nd Daegu Photo Biennale Emerging Photographers Exhibition (DAC EP), opening on September 11, 2026. Titled If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light , a thematic homage to the literary metaphor found in Kim Choyeop’s sci-fi novel, the exhibition investigates the socio-cultural and physical blind spots left behind in our hyper-accelerated, technology-driven media environment. The exhibition showcases the experimental works of four selected emerging artists: Park Ga Hyun, JEO U SEONG, Cho Hyunsang, and TUNALEE. Moving beyond the conventional grammar of flat, two-dimensional framing, these artists propose a radical expansion of the photographic medium. Their immersive presentations incorporate three-dimensional spatial design, video, and intensive material experimentation utilizing soil, discarded vinyl, limestone, and architectural interventions. Artist Highlights & New Commissions Park Ga Hyun constructs a suspended "room of memories" by gathering remnants of personal loss—such as leaves, bark, and rusted metal shards—collected from her grandmother’s abandoned inn in Bisan-dong, Daegu. Through a meticulous labor of heat-sealing these fragments between discarded bubble wrap and waste vinyl, Park utilizes UV flatbed printing to visualize the fragile yet resilient strata of personal history and time. JEO U SEONG engages in a profound ecological and temporal experiment dubbed "Fermented Photographs." The artist buries photographic prints of crops in the soil of his parents' farm in Cheongyang for up to a year, allowing the earth’s moisture and microorganisms to naturally weather and etch unique traces onto the paper. These organic archives are presented within custom handmade wooden frames, accompanied by excavated soil, wooden pallets, and documentary video to create a synesthetic spatial experience. Cho Hyunsang investigates the physical and conceptual boundaries of massive capitalist industrial structures, specifically the semiconductor clusters in Pyeongtaek and Yongin. By installing dark gray architectural partitions that deliberately disrupt linear circulation, Cho forces visitors to navigate and "wander" through the space physically, interacting with varied manifestations of his digital imagery while reflecting on human positioning within contemporary industrial landscapes. TUNALEE reconstructs narratives of displacement and loss drawn from demolished neighborhoods (including Bangbae-dong and Hannam-dong) by exploring the material cycle of limestone. Lee bakes local limestone at 900 degrees Celsius to craft DIY cement panels, upon which archival family photos are UV-printed as modern fossils. By preserving construction debris in resin and binding it with wire, the artist bridges personal memory with the infinite material circulation and "Deep Time" of the earth. Reflecting on the intensive preparation process, the DAC EP curatorial team notes, "This exhibition’s production goes far beyond the dimension of taking and printing photographs. It is a continuum of sensory and physical labor—from designing the audience's gaze and movement to directly digging up soil, ironing vinyl, and baking limestone to print images." The organizers added, "The distinctive experimental practices of these four young artists will reveal the most thrilling frontiers contemporary photographic art can reach." Read more Toggle Mixed media Installation Photography