Jonghwan Jeong - Neutral Zone 1+2 (2025)

The video installation Neutral Zone 1+2 appears disarmingly ordinary. Yet beneath the calm, almost humorous presentation lies a tangible tension. The self defense instructions and grenades, made of glass and inspired by yogurt drink bottles, call to mind both the fragility of the human body and the normalisation of violence within social systems. Jonghwan used his own experience from his military service in Korea for this absurdist reflection on modern warfare.

Jonghwan is a South Korean artist based in the Netherlands. His work examines power dynamics between individuals and social structures in daily life. The absurdity within these structures and the resulting fundamental sense of powerlessness lead to fundamental reflections about the individual and maybe even the essence of human existence.