Mirim Chu

South Korea

Mirim Chu (b. 1982) is a Seoul-based media artist who visualizes the intersection of urban structures and digital networks. Her practice explores the "interfaces" where physical cities and online environments overlap, utilizing the square pixel, the fundamental unit of the digital screen, and the geometric patterns found in satellite maps as her primary visual modules. Drawing from her professional background as a UI designer in the early 2000s, Chu investigates the nostalgia of the early digital era and the experience of growing up in planned "new towns." Her work uncovers the hidden systems of control and data-driven structures within our daily environments, weaving together disparate landscapes into fluid, interconnected narratives across painting, installation, and video. Recently, her practice has been driven by a growing interest in the data structures that underpin both the web and the contemporary city. Through this research, she develops works that evoke the patterns and logic of a data-driven society, constructing complex narratives that reflect digital environments and urban sensibilities across painting, installation, and video. In her latest video installations, she proposes intersected digital-urban landscapes that invite viewers to reconsider and reflect on the realities of everyday contemporary life.

Chu’s career has seen significant recognition on the international stage. In 2025, her work was featured in the Frieze Seoul Focus Asia section and the Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) touring exhibition Kitsch and Pop in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Building on this momentum, she is currently pursuing an MFA in Media Art at Yonsei University’s Graduate School of Communication and Arts. Her upcoming projects for 2026 include exhibitions at the Gyeongnam Art Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art Busan, where she will continue to explore contemporary daily life through complex, data-inflected video installations.


Capture d’écran 2026-01-30 à 15.58.25.png

Pixel Space

Pixel_Space_Mirim_Chu_Pixel.mp4

This work begins with the movement of the "pixel," the smallest unit that constitutes the screen. Pixels that repeat the cycle of creation and decay in clusters form a fluid rhythm, symbolizing the dynamics and flow of the digital world.

The squares on the screen transcend their status as simple pixels, transforming into the constituent fragments of a city. These flickering visual elements, appearing and disappearing, stimulate an urban sensibility and propose a new sentiment called "Netstalgia" (Internet + Nostalgia): a longing for the internet culture of the past.

By intersecting the digital and the urban, the past and the present, this work visualizes the sensory landscapes we experience within an era of rapid transition.

technique

pixel

format

landscape

duration

00:58

year

2025

WANT TO BRING ART INTO YOUR SPACE?

More from Mirim Chu

More on digital art

Generative art
Generative art refers to a way of creating artworks using an autonomous system. In digital art, these are usually generated from code and algorithms created by the artist, often with certain predefined parameters or systems. Although these parameters guide the final outcome of the work, generative art is generally a surprising way to create artworks, as the results are often unexpected and the number of possible outcomes can be infinite.
AI
AI art is a branch of generative art that uses artificial intelligence. Unlike other generative artworks, AI artworks use specific complex algorithms and models derived from machine learning. The most common methods for creating AI art today are GANs (generative adversarial networks) or proprietary prompting platforms such as ChatGPT, Sora, Midjourney, or Dall-e.
3D
3D art uses 3D software such as Blender, Cinema4D, Houdini, or video game software such as Unity to create works of art. In 3D works, artists can either arrange assets (the 'objects' in a 3D artwork or world) that they have created themselves or purchased from other creators to create elaborate environments and scenes (an approach to 3D art called 'set dressing'), or specialize in sculpting, which involves creating their own objects and assets.
Photogrammetry
Photogrammetry is a specialized 3D technique that allows 3D objects to be created from numerous photographs taken of an object or scene from multiple angles. These photos are then compiled to determine the specific positioning, shape, and dimensions of the object in space, and then converted into a 3D model. Initially developed for engineering and urban planning, photogrammetry has become a way for artists to produce extremely accurate 3D models from real-life images.
Collage
An extension of the traditional, plastic approach to collage, digital collage involves searching for and cutting out multiple images, extracting them from their original context, and recomposing them in a new arrangement to create a work of art. Artists can use their own photographs or find images on the internet.
Illustration
Digital illustrations are created using software such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or Procreate. As with drawing on paper, the artist uses a stylus to sketch a figure or object, usually on a tablet, to construct a scene or artistic universe. Unlike traditional drawing methods, digital illustration is much more forgiving, as mistakes can be easily corrected and drawn elements and objects can be easily moved around within a scene.
Video
Video artworks primarily use a recording camera, but may sometimes include additional post-processing or editing to distort, modify or add additional elements to the image. Some artists use state-of-the-art recording equipment to create macro zoom-ins or time lapses, privileging fidelity to the subject matter. Others use additional softwares to significantly modify or warp the video, creating an alternative perspective on the world that surrounds us.

Collections with the artist

+500
artists
View more
+10k
artworks
View more

Where did you scan from

RATE YOUR EXPERIENCE