The life-size, dynamic figures within Seongmin Yoo’s newest exhibition capture the intense physiological moment of attentive immobility, a reaction that premeditates a fight or flight response. Her beings inhabit the museum’s classical, Renaissance-inspired interior, naturally fitting within the corners, edges, and architectural rhythms of the building. The suspension of the figures lifts visitors’ attentions overhead and prompts questions through contrasts of stillness below and tension above. The distinct alien-like appearance of these figures - replete with endemic vegetations - creates a notable division between the viewers and the beings themselves. The fear response they exhibit occurs again and again as humans continuously enter and occupy their environment, a force posing a potential threat, mystery, and disruption. They do not simply stop moving and flying – they hold their breath.

Pulses of Experience functions as a metaphor for contemporary life. It reflects the realities that so many people and communities face in constantly being in the attentive immobility state. The artist address the violence of consistent tensions between movement and the absolute stillness that is emblematic of this physiological state. The flickers of consciousness that persist in these moments contain fear, awareness, and endurance, and they all coexist in a single suspended instant. Yoo’s practice questions “the boundaries of self... determining where personhood and identity begin and end, asking fundamental questions about belonging and purpose.” In this exhibition, attentive immobility emerges as both a psychological state and a shared cultural condition.

The opening performance by Seongmin Yoo on May 2 will activate the installation, extending the work’s investigation of presence, perception, and collective awareness.