TJ Shin is an artist and writer, working across film, video, installation, and sculpture. Their multimedia practice explores how structures of power influence both the ideology of form and the formalization of ideology. Shin is interested in how global systems, ecological networks, and cultural production shape meaning, value, and identity over time. Research-based and often site-specific, their recent body of work interrogates spatial and temporal systems within geopolitical logic, examining how information is made intelligible, knowledge is distributed, and events are historicized—while also considering the potential for rupture.

TJ Shin (b. 1993; Seoul, KR) lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. Shin received their BFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 2015 and their MFA in New Genres from UCLA in 2024. Shin has exhibited at the MIT List Visual Arts Center, Queens Museum, Buffalo Institute of Contemporary Arts, Princeton University, Montclair State University Galleries, Doosan Gallery, Knockdown Center, and more. Their writing has been published in Artforum, Active Cultures, the Brooklyn Rail, Mousse Magazine, and the Vera List Center for Art and Politics. They have been invited as artist-in-residence at Princeton University, Indiana University, University at Buffalo, Recess, Wave Hill, Folly Tree Arboretum, Banff Centre, and more. Their works have been reviewed in publications including Artforum, Art in America, ArtPapers, ArtAsiaPacific, C Magazine and The New York Times.

Exhibitions
Y/N with Abbas Zahedi for Condo hosted by Phillida Reid, 2025.
Signatures, 2024
Atavism for the Future, 2023



Installation view. Y/N by TJ Shin and Abbas Zahedi, 2025. Condo with Ehrlich Steinberg hosted by Phillida Reid, London, UK. Photo: Benjamin Westoby.


TJ Shin, TJ Shin’s, 2025. Hand-bound artist books, dimensions variable; 8.5 x 5.75 in. (21.5 x 14.5 cm) each. Photo: Benjamin Westoby.


Detail. TJ Shin, TJ Shin’s, 2025. Hand-bound artist books, dimensions variable; 8.5 x 5.75 in. (21.5 x 14.5 cm) each. Photo: Benjamin Westoby.


Detail. TJ Shin, TJ Shin’s, 2025. Hand-bound artist books, dimensions variable; 8.5 x 5.75 in. (21.5 x 14.5 cm) each. Photo: Benjamin Westoby.


Installation view. Y/N by TJ Shin and Abbas Zahedi, 2025. Condo with Ehrlich Steinberg hosted by Phillida Reid, London, UK.


TJ Shin, Unfortunately, only a third inverting the other’s work would be able to exhume and revive those lost Troys..., 2025. Hand-bound artist books, dimensions variable; 8.5 x 5.75 in. (21.5 x 14.5 cm) each. Photo: Benjamin Westoby.


Detail. TJ Shin, Unfortunately, only a third inverting the other’s work would be able to exhume and revive those lost Troys..., 2025. Hand-bound artist books, dimensions variable; 8.5 x 5.75 in. (21.5 x 14.5 cm) each. Photo: Benjamin Westoby.


Detail. TJ Shin, Unfortunately, only a third inverting the other’s work would be able to exhume and revive those lost Troys..., 2025. Hand-bound artist books, dimensions variable; 8.5 x 5.75 in. (21.5 x 14.5 cm) each. Photo: Benjamin Westoby.


Installation view. Signatures by TJ Shin, 2024. Parloir with Ehrlich Steinberg in Tournai, Belgium.


TJ Shin, Pocket watches (United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Hungary, Netherlands, Slovenia, Turkey, Portugal, United Kingdom), 2024. USSR pocket watches, film, brass and acrylic display stands, dimensions variable; 6 x 4.25 x 4.25 in. (15.2 x 10.8 x 10.8 cm) each. Photo: Philip Poppek.


TJ Shin, Pinholes (Belgium, United States), 2024. Slide viewers, negative film, mounted slides, dimensions variable; 2.75 x 3.25 x 4.75 in. (7 x 8.3 x 12 cm) each. Photo: Philip Poppek.


TJ Shin, Signature/Event/Context, 2024. Pencil and ink on Japanese paper, linen, 72 x 30 in. (183 x 76 cm). Photo: Evan Walsh.


Detail. TJ Shin, Signature/Event/Context, 2024. Pencil and ink on Japanese paper, linen, 72 x 30 in. (183 x 76 cm). Photo: Evan Walsh.


Installation view. With tides of the wild, 2024. UCLA, Los Angeles.


Installation view. With tides of the wild, 2024. UCLA, Los Angeles.


TJ Shin, Revision (It takes 22,000 minutes or 367 hours to project 150 miles of film at 24 frames per second, which is the equivalent of walking an average pace of 0.41 miles per hour or 47 minutes per mile for 150 miles.), 2023-2024. Two-channel video, 10:00 min; dimensions variable, edition 1/4 + 2 AP.


Still. TJ Shin, Revision (It takes 22,000 minutes or 367 hours to project 150 miles of film at 24 frames per second, which is the equivalent of walking an average pace of 0.41 miles per hour or 47 minutes per mile for 150 miles.), 2023-2024. Two-channel video, 10:00 min; dimensions variable, edition 1/4 + 2 AP.


Detail. TJ Shin, Labyrinth 1-42, 2024. Ceramic casts, dimensions variable.


Detail. TJ Shin, Labyrinth 1-42, 2024. Ceramic casts, dimensions variable.


Detail. TJ Shin, Cache, 2024. Multi-media sculpture, dimensions variable.


Still. TJ Shin, Cache, 2024. Multi-media sculpture, dimensions variable.


TJ Shin, Pin-hole Camera 1, Pin-hole Camera 2, 2024. SPAM container, 35mm film, LED light, electric tape.


TJ Shin, Pin-hole Camera 1, Pin-hole Camera 2, 2024. SPAM container, 35mm film, LED light, electric tape.


Detail. TJ Shin, Pin-hole Camera 1, Pin-hole Camera 2, 2024. SPAM container, 35mm film, LED light, electric tape.


Installation view. List Projects 28: Sophie Friedman-Pappas and TJ Shin, 2023. MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge.


TJ Shin, Duration (It takes 22,000 minutes or 367 hours to project 150 miles of film at 24 frames per second, which is the equivalent of walking an average pace of 0.41 miles per hour or 47 minutes per mile for 150 miles.), 2023. 16mm and Super 8 transferred to digital, 10:00 min, edition 1/4 + 2 AP.


Still. TJ Shin, Duration (It takes 22,000 minutes or 367 hours to project 150 miles of film at 24 frames per second, which is the equivalent of walking an average pace of 0.41 miles per hour or 47 minutes per mile for 150 miles.), 2023. 16mm and Super 8 transferred to digital, 10:00 min, edition 1/4 + 2 AP.


Still. TJ Shin, Duration (It takes 22,000 minutes or 367 hours to project 150 miles of film at 24 frames per second, which is the equivalent of walking an average pace of 0.41 miles per hour or 47 minutes per mile for 150 miles.), 2023. 16mm and Super 8 transferred to digital, 10:00 min, edition 1/4 + 2 AP.


TJ Shin, Untitled (Travelogue 1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17,19,21,23,25,27,29,31), 2023. Mixed media works on paper, 17 x 11 in. (43.2 x 27.9 cm) each.


TJ Shin, Architecture of Sanitation (Silver-Roll), 2023. Wood, mosquito netting, metal, architecture by Chris Kameck and TJ Shin, dimensions variable.


TJ Shin, Architecture of Sanitation (Silver-Roll), 2023. Wood, mosquito netting, metal, architecture by Chris Kameck and TJ Shin, dimensions variable.


TJ Shin, Untitled (100 days of solemnity), 2022. Transfected mugwort, cinchona, makko, oak, wild cherry, sandalwood, ash, diatomaceous earth, wood, 81 x 51 x 10 in. (205.7 x 129.5 x 25.4 cm).


TJ Shin, flos aeris (the bride held fast in the slime of the deep), 2023. 4-channel sound installation, 300:00, sound by Michelle Helene Mackenzie and TJ.


Installation view. The Vegetarian: the Swamp, the Swarm & the Cross by TJ Shin, 2022. Buffalo Institute of Contemporary Art, New York.


TJ Shin, Mourning Portrait 3, 2022. Preserved transfected mugwort with artist’s DNA, etched plaque, wood, 13 x 17 in. (33 x 43.2 cm).


Detail. TJ Shin, Astrological Botany (Artemisian & Quinine), 2023. Clay, slip, urine, glass, cinchona, mugwort, tobacco, pericón, coreopsis, logwood, oak gall, turmeric, marigold, madder, and safflower, 128 x 96 x 4 in. (325.1 x 243.8 x 10.2 cm).


Detail. TJ Shin, Astrological Botany (Artemisian & Quinine), 2023. Clay, slip, urine, glass, cinchona, mugwort, tobacco, pericón, coreopsis, logwood, oak gall, turmeric, marigold, madder, and safflower, 128 x 96 x 4 in. (325.1 x 243.8 x 10.2 cm).


TJ Shin, Breath of Preservation (Standard Colored Barracks), 2023. Herbarium sheet with specimens in the Asteraceae and Rubiaceae family, fungicides, pesticides, smoke, linen, envelope, 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm).


Installation view. Atavism for the Future, 2023. Ehrlich Steinberg, Los Angeles. Photo: Evan Walsh.


TJ Shin, DMZ Wire Fence, edition 50,715/150,625, 2023. Ceramic casts, desk, desk: 70 x 30 x 29 in. (178 x 76.5 x 74 cm); casts: 7.5 x 5.75 in. (19 x 14.5 cm) each. Photo: Evan Walsh.


TJ Shin, DMZ Wire Fence, edition 50,715/150,625, 2023. Ceramic casts, desk, desk: 70 x 30 x 29 in. (178 x 76.5 x 74 cm); casts: 7.5 x 5.75 in. (19 x 14.5 cm) each. Photo: Evan Walsh.


Installation view. Atavism for the Future, 2023. Ehrlich Steinberg, Los Angeles. Photo: Evan Walsh.


TJ Shin, Trace 5, 2023. Salted print, 17 x 11 in. (43 x 28 cm). Photo: Evan Walsh.


Installation view. The Vegetarian by TJ Shin, 2022. The Bows, Mohkinstsis/Calgary.


Installation view. The Vegetarian by TJ Shin, 2022. The Bows, Mohkinstsis/Calgary.


Installation view. Microbial Speculation of Our Gut Feelings by TJ Shin, 2020. Recess, Brooklyn, NY.


Installation view. Microbial Speculation of Our Gut Feelings by TJ Shin, 2020. Recess, Brooklyn, NY.


Installation view. Universal Skin Salvation by TJ Shin, 2018. Knockdown Center, Maspeth.


TJ Shin, Untitled (Lactic Acid Brew), 2018. Lactic acid bacteria, whey protein, wood, cinder blocks, glass jars, mason jars, food grade container, funnel, 8 x 2 x 2 ft. (2.5 x 0.6 x 0.6 m).


TJ Shin, Untitled (Self-Portrait) 1 - 4, 2018. Digital print, frame, 37 x 25 in. (94 x 63.5 cm).


Installation view. Universal Skin Salvation by TJ Shin, 2018. Knockdown Center, Maspeth.