CURB.

Artists: IVAAIU City, Sookyun Yang, Seoyoung Je, Caroline Reize, and Jaeyoung Shin

Looking ahead toward the new year with the onset of 2022, CURB. is an exhibition that takes stock of the natural environments that constitute our home planet, and also of ourselves, living within them.

In the midst of new and hopeful perspectives on the imminent end of our current pandemic, many of us are preparing to rejoin the world in earnest. During humanity’s brief break from business as usual in response to COVID-19, the natural world was given a period of rest and recovery all its own—giving us the opportunity to witness the planet’s healing in action, all across the globe. Cleaner air, fresher water, recovering ecosystems and plant and animal populations, and so forth. It seems inevitable, however, that this all-too-short interlude is slated for an abrupt end with humanity’s return to the status quo, undoing any small gains that may have been made. Is it not, then, necessary for us to take this moment to reflect on the consequences of these actions we are so eager to take back up, and do what we can to “curb” their negative effects on the earth’s environment? 

The word “curb,” as a verb, means “to restrain, or keep in check.” CURB., the exhibition, brings together works that stand as warnings of the negative impact our actions can have on the natural world, with those that celebrate the beauty of that same natural world and the lives lived within it—providing an opportunity to reflect anew on what we must protect, and, indeed, what we must limit, in order to do so. 

In this exhibition, artists Jaeyoung Shin (new media installation), Sookyun Yang (point cloud visualization), Seoyoung Je (painting), Caroline Reize (audio-visual), and IVAAIU City (new media installation) approach the most pressing environmental issues of our day through their chosen medium. Their explorations of the challenges we face and our strategies for facing them, now and in the future, are both figurative and abstract in form. 

In undertaking this exhibition, The Untitled Void posits that the freedom of expression afforded by fine art allows for an exploration of these vital and wide-ranging topics as they truly are, without compromise. TUV believes, too, that this approach allows for the full spectrum of human experience in engaging such issues, from cold to warm, intellectual to emotional. With CURB., we hope to provide an occasion for introspection and reflection about the responsibilities before us, as we position ourselves for our long-awaited return to everyday life.