Jinjoon Lee is a new media artist who explores the origins of human existence and identity through digital imagery and data visualization. By merging technology and art, he investigates philosophical questions of memory, identity, and being, continually rethinking the human condition in the age of new media. His body of work reveals the intersections of humans and technology, memory and identity, extinction and creation through a unique visual language that combines data and cosmic imagination.
His latest work, Champagne Supernova (2025), transforms the unique patterns of the human iris into the explosive image of a supernova. Through this transformation, Lee expands the notion of identity: from biological trace to digital code, and ultimately to a realm of cosmic imagination. In doing so, he reflects on Walter Benjamin’s concept of the loss of “aura” in the age of mechanical reproduction, while proposing the emergence of a new “digital aura” within the networked processes of replication and algorithmic generation.
His latest work, Champagne Supernova (2025), transforms the unique patterns of the human iris into the explosive image of a supernova. Through this transformation, Lee expands the notion of identity: from biological trace to digital code, and ultimately to a realm of cosmic imagination. In doing so, he reflects on Walter Benjamin’s concept of the loss of “aura” in the age of mechanical reproduction, while proposing the emergence of a new “digital aura” within the networked processes of replication and algorithmic generation.
Datafication of the Iris and Identity
Lee extracts biometric data—especially the human iris, a uniquely individual marker—and converts it into cosmic imagery through algorithmic processes. By doing so, he reveals identity not as a fixed and static entity, but as something fluid and event-based, emerging through the continual processes of data, image, and generative events.
The iris functions as an indelible, non-replicable signature embedded within the human body. Lee digitizes this biological uniqueness and reimagines it as a supernova—an astronomical event in which a star explodes at the moment of its death, simultaneously embodying annihilation and the potential for new order. In this artistic process, identity is no longer a singular, permanent essence, but rather a phenomenon that surfaces through the repeated generation and transformation of data and imagery.
The iris functions as an indelible, non-replicable signature embedded within the human body. Lee digitizes this biological uniqueness and reimagines it as a supernova—an astronomical event in which a star explodes at the moment of its death, simultaneously embodying annihilation and the potential for new order. In this artistic process, identity is no longer a singular, permanent essence, but rather a phenomenon that surfaces through the repeated generation and transformation of data and imagery.
Champagne Supernova: Transforming the Act of Seeing
In Champagne Supernova, the act of seeing transcends mere perception. The gaze is no longer a stable process of recognition by a fixed subject. Instead, it becomes a dynamic drama in which identity unfolds through data-driven transformations and cycles of image repetition.
Just as a supernova paradoxically signifies both death and the birth of the future cosmos, the act of seeing becomes an open field where personal experience and cosmic imagination converge, where uniqueness and reproducibility intersect. In this space, identity is understood not as a solid structure, but as an ongoing process of becoming—an endless motion of emergence and dissolution.
In Champagne Supernova, the act of seeing transcends mere perception. The gaze is no longer a stable process of recognition by a fixed subject. Instead, it becomes a dynamic drama in which identity unfolds through data-driven transformations and cycles of image repetition.
Just as a supernova paradoxically signifies both death and the birth of the future cosmos, the act of seeing becomes an open field where personal experience and cosmic imagination converge, where uniqueness and reproducibility intersect. In this space, identity is understood not as a solid structure, but as an ongoing process of becoming—an endless motion of emergence and dissolution.
The Ontological Horizon of Memory
Alongside identity, Lee’s work compels us to reconsider the nature of memory. Memory is not merely a passive archive of past events, but an active, condensed field of experience and a vital ontological foundation for selfhood. It serves as an internal landscape that makes the present and future possible, revealing a uniqueness that cannot be replicated or transferred without loss.
In this sense, memory is an essential structure that sustains human existence, forming the inner rhythm that underlies identity and lived experience.
Alongside identity, Lee’s work compels us to reconsider the nature of memory. Memory is not merely a passive archive of past events, but an active, condensed field of experience and a vital ontological foundation for selfhood. It serves as an internal landscape that makes the present and future possible, revealing a uniqueness that cannot be replicated or transferred without loss.
In this sense, memory is an essential structure that sustains human existence, forming the inner rhythm that underlies identity and lived experience.
Identity as Event, The Digital Aura
By transforming the uniqueness of the human iris and memory into data and merging it with cosmic visual metaphors, Lee redefines identity as a generative, event-based process. In his work, aura is not simply lost; instead, it is reborn as a new form of presence through digital mediation and networked generation. Lee’s art thus attempts to reconfigure human existence itself within the interplay of technological mediation and cosmic metaphors. Through this synthesis, his work points toward a new horizon of being in the post-digital era.
By transforming the uniqueness of the human iris and memory into data and merging it with cosmic visual metaphors, Lee redefines identity as a generative, event-based process. In his work, aura is not simply lost; instead, it is reborn as a new form of presence through digital mediation and networked generation. Lee’s art thus attempts to reconfigure human existence itself within the interplay of technological mediation and cosmic metaphors. Through this synthesis, his work points toward a new horizon of being in the post-digital era.
© 2025 Sukmo Kim. All rights reserved.
Reposted from Art History for Everyone, with permission from the author.
Reposted from Art History for Everyone, with permission from the author.
About the Author
Art historian Sukmo Kim studied philosophy, theater studies, and film & television studies at the Universities of Freiburg and Cologne in Germany, later earning a PhD in Art History from the University of Düsseldorf. Currently, he is the Director of the Solol Museum of Art and works as an independent researcher and curator. His research focuses on connecting theory and practice in contemporary art through philosophical approaches to technology, biopolitics, and non-human affectivity. Recently, he has concentrated on critically reinterpreting art-technology discourse and posthumanism within the context of exhibitions and artistic practice.
Art historian Sukmo Kim studied philosophy, theater studies, and film & television studies at the Universities of Freiburg and Cologne in Germany, later earning a PhD in Art History from the University of Düsseldorf. Currently, he is the Director of the Solol Museum of Art and works as an independent researcher and curator. His research focuses on connecting theory and practice in contemporary art through philosophical approaches to technology, biopolitics, and non-human affectivity. Recently, he has concentrated on critically reinterpreting art-technology discourse and posthumanism within the context of exhibitions and artistic practice.