Na Hyun
Na Hyun (b. 1970) is a Seoul-based artist whose practice engages with historical events and archival records. By constructing alternative archives and imaginatively filling in the gaps left by official records, he questions the truth claims embedded in seemingly objective documentation.
He won the Seoul Arts Award in 2025 and was nominated for the Korea Artist Prize by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA). He has held solo exhibitions at venues such as Finding Bigfoot (Oil tank Cultural park, Seoul, 2022), Babel - Different Tongues (Daegu Art Museum, Daegu, 2018), and Babel Tower (Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, 2014), and his works are included in the collections of major institutions in Korea such as the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul Museum of Art, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, and Suwon Museum of Art.
PILE-RHINE 2010
watercolor on canvas, 140x240cm, 2013
We often take history to be an objective record of facts. Yet history is always a subjective narrative—shaped by the perspective of its narrator, and continually reconstructed by the ideologies and conditions of each era. Na Hyun challenges this belief, asserting that no absolute truth can exist.
The PILE-RHINE series is a body of work created as part of the artist’s ongoing project A Song of Lorelei, which began in 2010. The project begins with the reconstruction of a 2.9-meter-high oak stake, modeled after the posts once used to measure water levels and mark territorial boundaries. Installed on the banks of the Rhine River, the stake gradually leans, erodes, and ultimately loses its function as a boundary as the river overflows. What remains are only the traces left behind by passing water. Through video documentation of this process, Na reveals how easily human-made systems of order and division can collapse in the face of nature’s flow.
In the painting series PILE-RHINE, Na Hyun paints this landscape directly onto the surface of water. The moment the pigment touches the surface, it bleeds uncontrollably. As the water evaporates, the residue forms shapes entirely removed from the artist’s original intent. Through this unpredictable and uncontrollable process, Na underscores how the act of recording is never fixed—it is always shifting, shaped by the surrounding environment, time, and forces beyond human will.
PILE-RHINE 2012
watercolor on canvas, 140x240cm, 2013
We often take history to be an objective record of facts. Yet history is always a subjective narrative—shaped by the perspective of its narrator, and continually reconstructed by the ideologies and conditions of each era. Na Hyun challenges this belief, asserting that no absolute truth can exist.
The PILE-RHINE series is a body of work created as part of the artist’s ongoing project A Song of Lorelei, which began in 2010. The project begins with the reconstruction of a 2.9-meter-high oak stake, modeled after the posts once used to measure water levels and mark territorial boundaries. Installed on the banks of the Rhine River, the stake gradually leans, erodes, and ultimately loses its function as a boundary as the river overflows. What remains are only the traces left behind by passing water. Through video documentation of this process, Na reveals how easily human-made systems of order and division can collapse in the face of nature’s flow.
In the painting series PILE-RHINE, Na Hyun paints this landscape directly onto the surface of water. The moment the pigment touches the surface, it bleeds uncontrollably. As the water evaporates, the residue forms shapes entirely removed from the artist’s original intent. Through this unpredictable and uncontrollable process, Na underscores how the act of recording is never fixed—it is always shifting, shaped by the surrounding environment, time, and forces beyond human will.
PILE-RHINE 2010
Single-channel video, color, 56min 48sec, 2010
We often take history to be an objective record of facts. Yet history is always a subjective narrative—shaped by the perspective of its narrator, and continually reconstructed by the ideologies and conditions of each era. Na Hyun challenges this belief, asserting that no absolute truth can exist.
The PILE-RHINE series is a body of work created as part of the artist’s ongoing project A Song of Lorelei, which began in 2010. The project begins with the reconstruction of a 2.9-meter-high oak stake, modeled after the posts once used to measure water levels and mark territorial boundaries. Installed on the banks of the Rhine River, the stake gradually leans, erodes, and ultimately loses its function as a boundary as the river overflows. What remains are only the traces left behind by passing water. Through video documentation of this process, Na reveals how easily human-made systems of order and division can collapse in the face of nature’s flow.
In the painting series PILE-RHINE, Na Hyun paints this landscape directly onto the surface of water. The moment the pigment touches the surface, it bleeds uncontrollably. As the water evaporates, the residue forms shapes entirely removed from the artist’s original intent. Through this unpredictable and uncontrollable process, Na underscores how the act of recording is never fixed—it is always shifting, shaped by the surrounding environment, time, and forces beyond human will.
PILE-RHINE 2012
Single-channel video, color, 11min 32sec, 2012
We often take history to be an objective record of facts. Yet history is always a subjective narrative—shaped by the perspective of its narrator, and continually reconstructed by the ideologies and conditions of each era. Na Hyun challenges this belief, asserting that no absolute truth can exist.
The PILE-RHINE series is a body of work created as part of the artist’s ongoing project A Song of Lorelei, which began in 2010. The project begins with the reconstruction of a 2.9-meter-high oak stake, modeled after the posts once used to measure water levels and mark territorial boundaries. Installed on the banks of the Rhine River, the stake gradually leans, erodes, and ultimately loses its function as a boundary as the river overflows. What remains are only the traces left behind by passing water. Through video documentation of this process, Na reveals how easily human-made systems of order and division can collapse in the face of nature’s flow.
In the painting series PILE-RHINE, Na Hyun paints this landscape directly onto the surface of water. The moment the pigment touches the surface, it bleeds uncontrollably. As the water evaporates, the residue forms shapes entirely removed from the artist’s original intent. Through this unpredictable and uncontrollable process, Na underscores how the act of recording is never fixed—it is always shifting, shaped by the surrounding environment, time, and forces beyond human will.
PILE-RHINE 2013
Single-channel video, color, 10min 17sec, 2013
We often take history to be an objective record of facts. Yet history is always a subjective narrative—shaped by the perspective of its narrator, and continually reconstructed by the ideologies and conditions of each era. Na Hyun challenges this belief, asserting that no absolute truth can exist.
The PILE-RHINE series is a body of work created as part of the artist’s ongoing project A Song of Lorelei, which began in 2010. The project begins with the reconstruction of a 2.9-meter-high oak stake, modeled after the posts once used to measure water levels and mark territorial boundaries. Installed on the banks of the Rhine River, the stake gradually leans, erodes, and ultimately loses its function as a boundary as the river overflows. What remains are only the traces left behind by passing water. Through video documentation of this process, Na reveals how easily human-made systems of order and division can collapse in the face of nature’s flow.
In the painting series PILE-RHINE, Na Hyun paints this landscape directly onto the surface of water. The moment the pigment touches the surface, it bleeds uncontrollably. As the water evaporates, the residue forms shapes entirely removed from the artist’s original intent. Through this unpredictable and uncontrollable process, Na underscores how the act of recording is never fixed—it is always shifting, shaped by the surrounding environment, time, and forces beyond human will.
