Optimally Human
This project examines how individual bodies are commodified and subsumed as resources in the context of the South Korean labor market. Within the social system of the workplace, individuals find themselves adjusting their bodies and behaviors beyond their inherent limits in response to systemic demands. In this process, they acquire the basic conditions for survival while simultaneously being reorganized into functional units that operate efficiently. Even illness and recovery are defined less by personal autonomy and more by the requirements of the system, highlighting a dystopian reality where individual autonomy is formed under structural pressures.
Video 3’27” (July 2022) ©JUHWA LEE