Jeewi Lee, born in 1987 in Seoul, lives and works between Berlin and Seoul. Her practice—site-specific installations, sculptures, and videos—explores notions of memory, time, and decay through the concept of the trace: the material and visual residues of past lives. She studied at the Berlin University of the Arts and at Hunter College in New York, and has received the Villa Romana Prize as well as grants from the Kunstfonds Foundation.

Philip C. Reiner is a geometry researcher and architect working at the intersection of mathematical principles and artistic expression. Their collaboration bridges a poetic reflection on disappearance with a formal approach grounded in scientific research.

Fragments : Tidal Memories

Fragments: Tidal Memories is part of a collaboration between Berlin-based Korean artist Jeewi Lee and German researcher Philip C. Reiner, situated at the intersection of art, science, and technology. Their joint practice focuses on aspects of everyday life that typically go unnoticed. Oscillating between the material and the digital, between ancient gestures and contemporary tools, their work questions our perception of materials and scales.

The work takes as its starting point a gesture that is both simple and dizzying: from among countless grains of sand collected at several coastal sites : Dadaepo Beach in South Korea, the coast of Mallorca, and a beach in New York, a single grain was selected. This grain, chosen for its unique properties, was then magnified more than a thousand times using high-precision digitization technologies, and subsequently realized as a monumental sculpture.

This change of scale transforms an almost invisible element into an imposing presence, inviting us to reconsider our relationship with matter. In Dadaepo, where rivers and seas continually reshape the landscape, the sand stands out for its exceptional fineness, bearing witness to complex and ongoing natural processes.

Through this arrangement, the work highlights the paradox of sand: one of the oldest and most abundant resources on the planet, yet now threatened by intensive exploitation linked to urbanization and industry. Each grain bears within it the traces of long geological time, shaped by wind, water, and the movements of the earth.

Each grain of sand is the result of thousands of years of erosion, shaped by natural forces such as wind and tides. By isolating and magnifying it, the artists reveal its formal complexity and unique character. It becomes a microcosmic archive, condensing vast timeframes and invisible processes.

Fragments: Tidal Memories thus offers an experience that is both aesthetic and reflective. By shifting scale and perspective, the work invites us to pay renewed attention to our surroundings and to become aware of the slow, profound dynamics that shape our environment.

A work originally commissioned by the Busan Biennale Organizing Committee, 2025