flyingCity: Artist Statement for “Megacities Asia”

The artist collective flyingCity, led by Jeon Yongseok, envisions an alternate urban reality for Seoul. Since 2001, the group has investigated—and even temporarily resided in—neighborhoods of the city transformed by redevelopment. For the series “Drifting Producers” (begun in 2003), flyingCity spent six years focusing on a central Seoul neighborhood that houses many small-scale machine shops under threat of displacement. Collaborating with shopkeepers, the group produced kinetic sculptures—four on view in “Megacities Asia”—that embody the creative energy, interconnectedness and endurance of their producers, celebrating the improbable survival of small-scale industry in an ever-changing Seoul. #mfaMEGA