The Uncanny In-Between
January 10, 2026—March 14, 2026
The Uncanny In-Between is an exhibition and archival project that explores a diverse range of works from five Korean ceramic artists that negotiate the complexities of bicultural identities and perspectives.
Despite the commonality of Korean heritage, these artists navigate the nuances of cross-cultural influences culling from personal, familial, and cultural histories. This exhibition will showcase subversive forms that playfully weave mythology, traditional techniques, and technological interventions.
In addition to the physical works in this exhibition are digital extensions of the objects that were created in collaboration with the University of Cincinnati’s NFT Media Lab. The resulting digital assets aim to highlight works that were limited by the physical constraints of viewing in a gallery and to allow for alternative ways to observe, interact, and study.
Oscillating between the material and immaterial, The Uncanny In-Between pays homage to the traditions of Korean ceramics but with a contemporary twist—from a split moon jar, a hybrid monster table, a guardian figurine, to a linguistic and figurative play on “pears”. The exhibition features work by Audrey An, Wansoo Kim, Hoon Lee, Hayun Surl, and Hae Won Sohn.
The exhibition is curated by Sso-Rha Kang. The digital renderings were created at the NFT Media Lab at the University of Cincinnati with a team led by Jordan Tate. The Uncanny In-Between was commissioned by Steven Matijcio. Translations to Korean were provided by Audrey An. Support for the exhibition and related programming comes from The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts at the University of Houston.
Exhibition Images
Exhibition Brochure
The Uncanny In-Between | Exhibition Brochure
published by Blaffer Art Museum
In Chicanx and Latinx studies, nepantla—the Nahuatl term connoting in-betweenness—has signified a series of resistance strategies for survival in inhospitable places. Theorized most extensively by the writer Gloria Anzaldúa, nepantla is a threshold space of possibility between boundaries, in which an individual’s multiplicity of identities makes them indecipherable to rigid systems. Anzaldúa describes boundary crossers as nepantleras, “thresholders who initiate others in rites of passage, activistas who, from a listening, receptive, spiritual stance, rise to their own visions and shift into acting them out, hacienda mundo Nuevo (introducing change).”1 That is: by living in-between distinct realities, these individuals build new worlds.
In Sso-Rha Kang’s exhibition The Uncanny In-Between, she traces shared forms and legacies from the artists’ binational histories. And, in collaboration with the University of Cincinnati’s NFT Media Lab, she has included digital renderings of objects, as if to offer a deeper insight—into the ceramic objects, of course—but also, perhaps, into the ways that these artists bridge the places that they’ve lived. People become inherently more resilient, more complex, more sensitive to traditions, turns of phrase, and cultural assumptions, when they live between multiple cultural worlds. The experience of being in-between can be a source for re-thinking the self, in and out of place. In this intimately scaled exhibition, curator Sso-Rha Kang presents a group of artists who respond to traditional Korean ceramic arts, while also turning those traditions on their heads. It’s an exciting way to begin the year, and a reminder of the power of the visual artists to help us see new paths, heretofore unimagined.