At this year’s Frieze New York, which ran from May 7 to 11, Song brought that interrogation into a physical space. Her installation, “The Barnacles 따개비들,” continues a body of work she calls The Internet Barnacles 인터넷 따개비들—sculpture and video installations that explore how we cling to digital systems and how those shifting systems quietly steer us. The series began with an earlier version in January, shown at G Gallery in Korea, where barnacle-like structures were attached to an abstract, rock-like form. In this new iteration, the imagery shifts as the barnacles now cling to the hulls of ships. Like drifting larvae that eventually anchor, Song comments on how these digital systems subtly reshape users as they become increasingly entangled in algorithms, surveillance and data extraction.
“The Barnacles”—an evolution of Song’s latest exhibition, Are We Still (Surfing)? at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn—shifts from browser-based experiments to immersive kinetic installations. There, projections rippled across modular cardboard forms, transforming the interface into something spatial and unstable. It looks like a glitch made solid. Or a screen you didn’t mean to fall into.
“The Barnacles” deepens that exploration. You don’t scroll past it—you circle, pause and shift your body to catch the images as they scatter. “The internet started as a place to connect people and share many different opinions,” Song said. “But now, with all this optimizing, we ignore that. Everything starts to look the same—icons, formats and users.”
In the weeks leading up to Frieze, Song juggled two projects, finalizing her installation in Korea while preparing to fly to New York. During our late-night video call, the hum of machines filled her studio.
“Is it too loud?” she asked, eyes tired but focused, speaking through the last-minute rush. Even through the screen, her themes—disruption, friction, disorientation—cut through. The call glitched once, dropping her audio. Her backdrop was blurred, while the background hum was silenced by noise cancellation. No smooth interface. No polished ease. Just the real mess of building something that refuses to be easy.
