알림
뒤로
Trans-Furniture (What Happened to the Furniture) 
saasaakunkun
2026.04.10. - 04.19. 

Trans-Furniture
(What Happened to the Furniture)
saasaakunkun

2026.04.10. - 04.19.

Document
Curatorial Essay
Document
Essay of Things
Document
Works

Curatorial Essay

What happened to furniture? 
The artist saasaakunkun’s home in Gugi-dong is shaped almost entirely by furniture he has built himself. This exhibition, What Happened to the Furniture, begins in that private interior and brings into the public space of the gallery both the original pieces that have accompanied his daily life and new works that reconfigure them into the spatial language of exhibition, placing them side by side in conversation...
Curatorial Essay
The artist saasaakunkun’s home in Gugi-dong is shaped almost entirely by furniture he has built himself. This exhibition, <<What Happened to the Furniture>>, begins in that private interior and brings into the public space of the gallery both the original pieces that have accompanied his daily life and new works that reconfigure them into the spatial language of exhibition, placing them side by side in conversation.
In Korean, ‘furniture’ is often understood as something subordinate to space, yet its linguistic roots elsewhere tell a different story. The French ‘meuble’, Italian ‘mobile’ and German ‘möbel’ all derive from the Latin ‘mobilis’, meaning ‘that which moves.’ saasaakunkun’s work begins from this flexible condition of ‘mobility.’ His structures are designed to be dismantled and reassembled, carried across three homes and to gradually accumulate the traces of a life lived in transit. “Having moved every six years, the idea of home has remained for me more a vague nostalgia than an old, fixed memory.” For the artist, home is not an enduring structure but a temporary arrangement shaped by contracts and circumstance. In the midst of this constant instability, it is not architecture but objects that hold continuity and stability. He recalls a large, old-fashioned wardrobe from his childhood, with ornate moldings that anchored his parents’ bedroom. “It fascinated me that as long as that wardrobe was there, any unfamiliar room instantly became my parents’ bedroom. Remembering where the wardrobe stood became the only way for me to recall the homes of the past.” This sensibility extends into the way he conceives of space itself as a piece of furniture. Walls and floors are conceived as elements that can be assembled, disassembled and relocated, no different from furniture, so that boundaries begin to dissolve. The notion of ‘Trans-Furniture’ symbolizes these travelling objects that move through space and unsettle fixed distinctions.
Yet saasaakunkun’s furniture does not remain at the level of structural mobility; it also carries the imprint of human presence. Architectural arches glimpsed in medieval Italy and celestial motifs reminiscent of da Vinci’s ceilings settle on the surfaces of furniture as shapes, textures and ornament. Refusing the smoothness of efficiency-driven industrial materials, he deliberately scratches their surfaces to pack them with paint or weaves crooked wire through them. This labor of handwork is not mere decoration. It marks an intense act of intervention through which the artist seeks to breathe warmth into cold, ready-made objects, lifting them into companions in everyday life and resetting how people and objects relate to one another. The traces he records on these surfaces register an interaction between mind, eye and hand. Furniture that does not ask to be explained, and that holds emotion and memory in ways that resist language, is no longer a simple ‘burden.’
What is perhaps most striking is the shift in the artist’s attitude that occurs when these deeply personal, almost diary-like pieces of furniture are placed in a public exhibition space. The artist meticulously translates his intimate tastes and personal traces, which might seem meaningless to others, into elements with clear, functional roles that others can readily accept and use, such as ‘hinges’ that join one plane to another or supports that function like prosthetic bones. The private trajectories of a closed room are thus transformed into public objects that communicate with anonymous viewers on a shared stage.
“To see objects as the things that define home is a practical philosophy in a life of relentless movement.” As the artist notes, furniture migrates with those who must keep moving. It helps people establish a foundation and quietly lives alongside them. In unfamiliar or awkward places, it creates small zones of intimacy and shared laughter, and has the power to turn even a distant, isolated place into something resembling home.
Now, these works begin another movement. Removed from the artist’s familiar nest, these migrating objects enter the shared space of the exhibition. As we attune ourselves to the paths they have taken, we are prompted to reconsider what constitutes a home: not bricks and mortar, but the old desk and wardrobe that remain by our side, quietly holding the shape of our lives.



Artist Introduction
saasaakunkun
saasaakunkun is an architectural practice working across buildings, interiors and furniture. The studio understands furniture not as a fixed form but as a ‘flexible tool’ that can be divided and combined according to the needs of its users, and it pursues a frank, open design language in which function remains visibly present. Led by director Jeon Joongseob, who worked in interior design studios and architectural offices before founding saasaakunkun in 2025, the practice develops spatial experiences attuned to fast-changing urban environments such as Seoul.
saasaakunkun.com

Artist: saasaakunkun (Jeon Joongseob)
Curated by Nari Lim
Graphic Design by Yuna Kim
Photography by Minhwa Maeng
Translated by Minjee Kim
Hosted by Walkie-Talkie Gallery
Essay of Things

Essay of Things

Works

Details coming soon
sskk-1 (Sofa)

Designer saasaakunkun 

Material Powder-coated metal, red thread on fabric cushions 

Dimensions W730 × D1000 × H1075 mm 

Edition Unique piece(Engineered Imperfection)

Country of Manufacture South Korea 
sskk-2 (Wardrobe)

Designer saasaakunkun 

Material Black iron oxide, spruce, pine plywood, and brass Dimensions W3200 × D575 × H2240 mm

Edition Unique piece(Engineered Imperfection)

Country of Manufacture South Korea

sskk-3 (Wall Unit)

Designer saasaakunkun 

Material Urethane-coated ash wood, aluminum 

Dimensions W684 × D230 × H940 mm 

Edition Unique piece(Engineered Imperfection)

Country of Manufacture South Korea
sskk-4 (Folding Screen)

Designer saasaakunkun 

Material Urethane-coated ash wood, walnut, stainless steel, brass 

Dimensions W2560 × D50 × H1480 mm 

Edition Unique piece(Engineered Imperfection)

Country of Manufacture South Korea

Copyright ⓒ 2026 Walkie-Talkie Gallery All rights reserved.

Copyright ⓒ 2026 Walkie-Talkie Gallery All rights reserved.

워드앤뷰(word and view)  ·  대표 임나리  ·  서울시 서대문구 모래내로17길 59-6  ·  walkietalkiegallery@gmail.com  ·  010 2560 5352  ·  사업자등록번호 396-09-01733  ·  통신판매업신고번호 제 2023-서울서대문-1367 호