Spectrosynthesis Seoul is an exhibition that offers a multilayered perspective on LGBTQ+ artists and artists exploring queerness in their work who have led avant-garde practices across temporal, spatial, and institutional boundaries. The term “Spectrosynthesis” is a portmanteau combining the words spectrum—the phenomenon of light dispersing into the colors of the rainbow and a symbol of diversity—and synthesis, which refers to the process of bringing together both ideas and objects, much like photosynthesis. The exhibition examines the currents of contemporary queer art while tracing the topography of queer art in Korea—particularly in Seoul—as it has formed amid the country’s significant political, social, and technological transformations, and the tensions within them.

This exhibition expands Art Sonje Center in its entirety into a space of transition, newly transforming not only the conventional galleries but also the lobby, art hall, corridors, and other in-between or unused areas into new exhibition sites. From the basement to the first floor, the exhibition interprets the concept of “trans” as a catalyst for death and transformation arising through encounters with new bodies, and features experimental new commissions alongside recent works. The second floor primarily highlights artists from the collection of Hong Kong’s Sunpride Foundation as it introduces key works through which visitors can explore the history of queer art both in Korea and around the world. Finally, the third floor of the exhibition focuses on the ever-emerging present of Korean queer art through three distinct themes: memory, place, and form.
In collaboration with Sunpride Foundation, which was established to support LGBTQ+ people and their allies , Art Sonje Center presents this exhibition featuring seventy-four participating artists/artist teams. Following similar exhibitions held in Taiwan, Thailand, and Hong Kong, this new iteration of Spectrosynthesis in Korea allows diverse queer artistic practices—like a spectrum of light—to intersect and expand anew as they pass through the site-specific prism of Seoul.