Lee JiyenAdoring Harmony
Interwoven ReflectionStain-Rainbow Forest 7, 2026, Nanofilm, carbon rods, silicon rings, 3D-printed components, and nano-pattern replication; three parts: diam. 3m, 4m, and 5m, dimensions variable
Public Exhibition
Seoul Botanic Park
Seoul
Republic of Korea
23 Jun – 27 May 2026
Lee Jiyen translates imperceptible micro-world structures into the human sensory realm by creating sculptural installations that merge physical phenomena of light with the latest scientific breakthroughs. Her works, created using nanoimprint lithography, incessantly shift into new colors and forms in response to the installation space’s lighting and the viewer’s orientation and movements, sensorially revealing that the universe does not exist in a fixed reality, and is, instead, in a state of continued transformation caused by countless relationships and conditions. Stain-Rainbow Forest, a series representative of her ongoing research, consists of light-and-sculpture installations in which she takes the semiconductor nanostructures etched on silicon wafers, hand-replicates them onto new sheets of film, and expands them using carbon rods, silicone rings, and 3D printing. A metaphor for her worldview — a “world of relationships” where imperfect beings coexist via their links with each other — the series has evolved through continuing collaboration with scientific institutions, including the KIMM (Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials), KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), and the Anti-Counterfeiting Research Center at KOMSCO (Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation). Project Hall2, located on the Botanic Center’s second floor, has served as the primary venue for Seoul Botanic Park’s special exhibitions, serving as a welcoming gateway for visitors. This indoor space — illuminated by both natural light and artificial light that intersect with each other — is the entrance where visitors take their first steps into the uncharted realm unveiled by each special exhibition and also the catalyst that reawakens us to the sensations that we often overlook in our everyday lives. The title of this section, “Listening Closely: Light and Sound,” gently reminds us that sight and hearing — two senses we commonly perceive to be disparate — are, in fact, linked as waveforms in the real world. Tuning your ears to light and examining sound with your eyes; these acts dismantle the walls that separate one being from another and allow us to listen attentively to one another. This section urges us to expand our senses, one of the first ways of reconnecting with the world. Lee Jiyen has established a highly distinctive visual language, consisting of sculptural installations that converge nanoimprint lithography with the physical phenomena of light. Through continuing collaboration with scientific institutions, including the KIMM (Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials), KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), and the Anti-Counterfeiting Research Center at KOMSCO (Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation), Lee has been using her art to make nanostructures available to the dimension of human sensation. Stain-Rainbow Forest 7, her installation in this special exhibition, consists of units that unfold like blossoms at their peak. The individual light-and-sculpture pieces, suspended from Project Hall2’s ceiling, were created from semiconductor nanostructures etched on silicon wafers, reformatted into an art installation by hand-replicating the patterns onto new sheets of film and expanding these sheets with carbon rods, silicone rings, and 3D printing. Each measuring three, four, and five meters in diameter, the set of three sculptures comes alive through colors and forms that incessantly shift in response to the installation space’s lighting and the viewer’s orientation and movements. Lee explains that the “stain” in her title symbolizes imperfection, and the “forest” a spatiotemporal realm where diverse beings coexist in interconnection. Stain-Rainbow Forest 7 proposes a universe in which imperfect beings coexist through interrelatedness, and her installation unfolds the beauty of their entanglement in a language of light, almost enabling her viewers to hear sounds from it. Light and sound are both waveforms in essence, and similarly, all beings in the world unawares resonate with one another.
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