Artist Michael Joo has unveiled a major survey exhibition, "Sweat Models 1991–2026," at Space ZeroOne, a new institutional initiative by the Hanwha Foundation of Culture in Tribeca. The show features career-spanning works including "Concatenations," a massive architectural installation composed of century-old aluminum baking trays and personal ephemera, and salt-block sculptures that reference his background in biology and his family's history in cattle ranching.
The exhibition gained unexpected notoriety when a 1992 sculpture, "Saltiness of Greatness," collapsed during the opening reception, causing minor injuries to four attendees. Despite this incident, the show serves as a significant moment for Joo to re-examine his decades-long practice of blending material science with personal and collective archives, marking a high-profile debut for the Hanwha Foundation's new New York space.