Art
Jeewi Lee
21 October 2026
Art
Jeewi Lee
21 October 2026
Q: Your work is built around the trace and memories. Why do you think this topic interests you, and what first made you pay attention to it?
A: I'm deeply interested in leftovers, the remnants that stay behind after something or someone has disappeared.
Traces are often seen as signs of imperfection, ageing, scars or dirt. But they are so much more than that – they carry stories and have a lot to tell.
A trace is a moment where past and present overlap, where absence and presence exist side by side. It tells us that something was once there, even when its original presence is no longer visible. For me, a silent witness.
It was only much later that I became aware that this was probably also connected to my own biography, having had to change my place of residence and home several times throughout my childhood and teenage years.
Over time, this interest has become a way of looking at the world. I find myself paying attention to materials and places that carry stories and memories within them. As in Samuel Beckett's line "The end is the beginning", I believe the future lies hidden in the past.
Q: Your parents brought you to Berlin from Seoul when you were five, and years later you came back on your own terms. What is different about a city you return to by choice, and why Berlin?
A: Moving to a new place and encountering a new culture and language feels very different when it is your own choice rather than something decided for you. When I first came to Berlin as a child, adapting to an unfamiliar environment was not always easy. I still remember how strange the European children looked to me at first, and how foreign their language sounded. Meanwhile, I sometimes feel even more comfortable speaking German than my mother tongue, Korean.
When I returned to Berlin in my late teens, it was a conscious decision. I was specifically looking for an international environment and the opportunity to encounter different cultures. I was much more motivated to explore different ways of life and discover what made Berlin such an exciting city, with its rich and complex history.
I believe Berlin offers an incredible diversity of lifestyles and is rich in culture. I find the young art scene and its independent project spaces particularly exciting. Although the city has changed a lot through gentrification, I feel there is still a lot of intellectual and creative space for art and culture.
"What I appreciate most, though, is perhaps the original Berlin mentality and dialect. There is something very direct and unpretentious about them that I find genuinely honest, and I really value that."
Q: What is the biggest risk you took in your career, and did it turn out to be the right decision?
A: I think choosing to pursue an artistic practice without knowing exactly where it would lead has been one of the biggest risks I've taken. It's a financial risk, too. Being an artist means committing yourself to something that rarely offers a clear or predictable path, let alone a steady income. You invest a great deal of time, energy and trust in something whose outcome you cannot fully control.
My work often consists of long processes of research, concepts and planning, which are then combined, during the making, with a lot of intuition and with chance that is either deliberately allowed in or carefully controlled. Like many other artistic practices, it requires me to stay open to uncertainty and to let the work sometimes take a direction I might not have anticipated. I couldn't point to one single decision that turned out to be right. It's more of a continuous commitment to following my curiosity and taking my work seriously, even when the future sometimes feels uncertain. The opportunities and recognition that have come along the way are meaningful, of course, but they are not the only measure of whether a decision was worthwhile. For me, it is also about staying in conversation with people through my art, and sharing questions and inspiration together.
Q: You just won the 2026 GASAG Art Prize and your installation is at the Berlinische Galerie during Art Week, your face is all over the city. What would you say to someone at the very beginning of their career looking at that?
A: I would say that what you see from the outside is only a very small part of an artist's life. An exhibition, an award, or a public moment can make a career appear very linear, as if everything has led naturally to that point. But an artistic practice is made up of many years of work, uncertainty, detours, moments of failing and things that remain invisible to others.
I think it is important to stay curious and to develop your own way of looking at the world, rather than trying to anticipate what the art world expects from you. For me, making art is a long process of discovering what I am interested in and finding the right form and material to express it.
Another most important thing is simply to keep going and not give up easily. There are always ups and downs, and I personally think it's important to endure the lows and keep believing in art. Recognition can open doors, but it doesn't replace the work itself. Ultimately, what matters to me is being able to keep asking questions, experimenting, and making work that I feel a real need to make.
Q: Where do you go in Berlin when you want to switch off?
A: To be honest, the place in Berlin where I can switch off and recharge best is probably at home, on my own.
Of course, being closer to nature, walking through a forest or spending time in a quieter landscape also helps me slow down and shift my perspective from time to time. I sometimes take day trips to the countryside around Berlin. Although my packed work schedule means I manage this far too rarely, I find these moments of simply doing very little surprisingly important. They give my thoughts room to settle without having to turn immediately into something productive.
Q: What is art for?
A: I don’t think art has to serve a specific purpose, and this openness is important to me. For me, art can create a space in which we can look at the world differently, become more attentive to things we might otherwise overlook, or question what we have come to take for granted.
I’m interested in the possibility of making something visible without fully explaining it. An artwork doesn’t necessarily have to provide answers or convey a fixed message. It can hold contradictions, evoke memories, or allow different experiences and interpretations to coexist.
Perhaps art is a way of sometimes slowing down and sometimes sharpen our perception and making room for uncertainty, imagination, and reflection. In a world that often demands immediate answers and clear meanings, I think there is value in creating a space where we can remain with a question for a little longer.
READ MORE
Jeewi Lee
On memory, traces, and belonging, reflecting on how personal history shapes artistic practice
Andreas Kurkowitz
From mastering blonde and developing hair colour to embracing individuality over trends
Dafni Krazoudi
On the body, identity, and transformation through performance and movement
Yont Studio
On raw aesthetics, queer perspectives, and the space between art, architecture, and design