A doctoral dissertation written on a 10-meter hanji (traditional Korean paper) scroll by a KAIST professor will be permanently housed at the Ashmolean Museum in the United Kingdom.
KAIST announced Monday that Professor Lee Jin-jun of its Graduate School of Culture Technology had his Oxford University doctoral dissertation, "Empty Garden — A Liminoid Journey to Everywhere, Nowhere (2020)," officially purchased by the Ashmolean Museum for permanent collection and display. It is a rare case of a contemporary Korean artist's work being formally acquired by the museum.
The dissertation is both a research work and an artwork that reinterprets the Joseon Dynasty literary concept of "uiwon" (意園, imaginary garden) through modern digital technology. Uiwon refers not to a physically existing garden but to an imaginary garden cultivated in the mind. Professor Lee explored how human senses and memory can be revived in an era overflowing with artificial intelligence and data. He proposed the concept of "data gardening" — handling and experiencing data slowly, as one would tend a garden, rather than processing it rapidly. The approach represents an attempt to restore human sensation and contemplation beyond the efficiency- and speed-driven digital environment.
The dissertation's most distinctive feature is its format: a hanji scroll measuring 10 meters in length. It was produced as a set of nine hanji scrolls, requiring readers to physically move their bodies as they read. This combines the core sensory experience of East Asian gardens — strolling — with the act of reading, designed so that readers do not merely read text but move, feel and contemplate. The dissertation received a unanimous "No Corrections" verdict at its Oxford DPhil in Fine Art examination in 2020, affirming its academic rigor. The fact that Lee completed the program in just two and a half years, faster than usual, drew additional attention as a rare achievement in Oxford's 900-year history.
Oxford doctoral dissertations are typically registered as academic materials at the Bodleian Library. However, the Ashmolean Museum formally purchased one of the nine hanji scroll dissertations for permanent collection and display. The acquisition followed a five-year independent review process after the degree was conferred, through which the museum recognized the work's artistic and academic value. It is considered extremely rare for a living artist's doctoral dissertation to be included in the permanent collection of a world-renowned university museum.
Professor Lee, the first practicing artist appointed as a full-time professor at KAIST, currently serves as a visiting professor at Exeter College, Oxford, and an adjunct professor at New York University, continuing interdisciplinary research across art, technology and the humanities. He has recently drawn attention for projects including "Good Morning, Mr. G-Dragon," a space art project utilizing K-pop artist G-Dragon's iris data, and "Cine Forest: Donghwa," an AI-based media symphony at Bundang Central Park.
Lee explained that while writing the dissertation at Oxford, a leg injury confined him to a wheelchair, prompting deep reflection on the meaning of "movement and stillness" — an experience that was reflected in the work. "Even in the AI era, art cannot remain confined to immaterial images," he said. "As digital technology advances, human senses and experiences may actually weaken. I wanted to propose a new sensory framework in which humans experience and contemplate through their bodies, beyond data."
He added, "By having this dissertation housed in a museum representing Western intellectual history, I hope that Eastern modes of thought, including those from Korea, will continue to be read and discussed as a reference point for a new sensory framework in the AI era."
