CHOI+SHINE is an internationally awarded art and design studio established by Jin Choi and Thomas Shine that specializes in creating beautiful, functional infrastructure and public art installations. Their 2008 creations of human-shaped high-voltage towers, The Land of Giants, was an internationally awarded sensation, representing the firm's expertise in the integration of art and engineering. Choi+Shine has since continued to research, design and develop innovative aesthetic infrastructure for global clients, most notably for NEOM city in Saudi Arabia, RTE in France, Statnett in Norway and Landsnet in Iceland. Their innovative work has been published in major press, including the BBC, CNN, Le Figaro, Corriere della Sera and The Guardian. Choi+Shine’s works range in scale from small lighting fixtures shown at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York to large artistic infrastructure projects presented for the European Capital of Culture in Marseille, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Milan Design Week and Seoul Architecture Festival.
Their temporary and permanent public art works have been exhibited in institutes, biennales and museums worldwide, including at the EU, the UN’s Ocean Conference, the Australian Commonwealth Games, Busan Biennale, Manifesta Biennale, Sharjah Art Museum in UAE, the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum in Japan, Musée d’Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain in France and most recently, the Zhejiang Art Museum in Hangzhou China. The firm is currently developing new permanent works for The City of Cambridge’s Linear Park and for the LakeWay Project in Madison in the US.
PEOPLE
Jin Choi holds a MFA in Architectural Art, and an M.Arch from Yale University. She was selected by The Korean Institute of Architects as a “Global Young Architect” in 2013 and received the State of Massachusetts’ Cultural Council Artist Fellowship in 2019. She was an adjunct professor and design adviser at Suffolk University for 10 years and appointed as the lead curator for Amsterdam Light Festival from 2022 to 2025. She is the co-inventor of several patented works with Thomas Shine.
Thomas Shine received his B.Arch and M.Arch from Yale University and taught structures at Yale School of Architecture. Before studying architecture, he worked in biotechnology in London, and later established a firm developing diagnostic medical equipments. Many of his medical devices are internationally patented. He was an adjunct professor at Suffolk University for 8 years and appointed as a chief adviser at a robotic start up firm in Amsterdam. He is the co-inventor of several patented works with Jin Choi.
EXHIBITIONS
2028
(Scheduled) Danehy Linear Park Permanent Public Art Collection,
City of Cambridge, USA
2026
Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum, Distance, (commissioned),
Hangzhou, China
2025
Zhejiang Art Museum & China Academy of Art, Hangzhou Triennial 5th Edition,
Hangzhou, China
Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain, Biennale des Arts et de l’Océan, Nice, France
2024
Manifesta Biennale, Barcelona Metropolitana, Urchins Barcelona,
Barcelona, Spain
The Korean Institute of Culture & Architecture, Invited International Exhibition, DDP, Seoul, Korea
2023
Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Inauguration of Grand Studio, The Power of One, Fukuoka, Japan
Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah Art Foundation, The 25th Islamic Art Festival, Sharjah, U.A.E
House of Wisdom, Sharjah Art Foundation, The 25th Islamic Art Festival,
Sharjah, U.A.E
The Korean Institute of Culture & Architecture, Invited International Exhibition, DDP, Seoul, Korea
2022
The EU, Europe - Global Gateway, France, Germany, Spain, Romania, Estonia, Denmark, Italy
Arts Council England, Culture Trust, Luton, UK
The Korean Institute of Culture & Architecture, Invited International Exhibition, DDP, Seoul, Korea
2021
Busan Biennale, The Membrane, Non-/HumanAssemblages, Busan, South Korea
The Korean Institute of Culture & Architecture, Invited International Exhibition, Seoul, Korea
2020
The Korean Institute of Culture & Architecture, Invited International Exhibition, Seoul, Korea
2019
Georgetown BID, The Heron, GLOW, Washington, D.C., USA
Phoebus Foundation, Kantate, piKANT!, Aalst, Belgium
Culture Liverpool, Liverpool City Council, Liverpool, UK
2018
Commonwealth Games 2018, Festival 2018, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Scottsdale Public Art, Arizona!, Scottsdale, USA
Hunterdon Art Museum, Lace, Not Lace, Clinton, USA
The Korean Institute of Culture & Architecture, Invited International Exhibition, Seoul, Korea
Yale School of Architecture, A Retrospective on Ten Years of Practice,
New Haven, USA
2017
The Deutsches Museum, ENERGIE.WENDEN, Munich, Germany
Sharjah Culture, Sharjah Art Foundation, The 20th Islamic Art Festival,
Sharjah, U.A.E
The Korean Institute of Culture & Architecture, Invited International Exhibition, Seoul, Korea
The Bahrain Light Festival, Manama, Bahrain
Gallery Bom, Summer Group Show: Sprout, Boston, USA
iLight Festival, Urchins, Marina Bay Singapore
2016
Milan Design Week, Poetry, Invited International Exhibition, Logotel, Milan, Italy
The Amsterdam Light Festival, The Lace, Amsterdam, Netherlands
The Korean Institute of Culture & Architecture, Invited International Exhibition, Seoul, Korea
2015
Soda Museum, Re:Born, Seoul, Korea
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Future of Infrastructure, London, UK
2013
European Capital of Culture, Metamorphosis, Marseille, France
2012
Yale University School of Architecture, Woman in Architecture, New Haven, USA
2011
Victoria & Albert Museum, The Pylon for the Future, London, UK
Seoul Architecture Festival, Dongdaemun History & Culture Park, Global Young Architects, Seoul, Korea
2010
Musée des sciences et de la technologie du Canada, Permanent Collection, Ottawa, Canada
QUOTES
”One of the most beautiful ideas by the world’s best creative brains.”
-Dezeen Book of Ideas
“The 'Land of Giants' is a poem for the eyes.”
-Corriere Della Sera
“There are only two weeks left for the exhibition of the work.
I would like to keep it on display all the time…”
-Nakao Tomomichi, Curator, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum
“I will always remember the fabulous Trees project and I must say I mention it to so many people as an example of a brilliant, creative and engaging project. Working with you both was an utter joy!!”
-Karen Perkins, Director, Culture Trust Luton, UK
"...we [the curators] were like kids on Christmas morning delicately opening out presents."
-Sean Tudor, Canada Science and Technology Museum
Distance, a thread installation by Choi+Shine examines how spa!al perception shapes connection… considering how contemporary social conditions influence the way people orient themselves and form networks…While often viewed as delicate, lace requires sustained effort and technical skill. Its structure, formed through interlinked threads, operates as a symbolic and material analogy for connection across different groups and contexts. Community involvement was integral to the making process, positioning crochet craft as a shared activity and redistributing authorship across participants”.
-Designboom
“This work not only shocked the audience with its grand scale and ethereal beauty, but also perfectly interpreted the core of “Re-Constellation" with its profound social connection and humanistic care behind it…This is not only the production process of an art project, but also a large-scale social art practice, a construction across language, culture, age and identity”
-Phoenix Art Beijing, China
“First of all, I think it is a very valuable opportunity to communicate with the artist. I think people coming together to create is a very happy and lucky thing…The artist is very patient, and will encourage us, saying that we are doing a great job. We feel this gives us more confidence to keep going.”
-白晨阳 Bob/Bai Chenyang, volunteer participant, Zhejiang Art Museum
“I was shocked to arrive at the scene today. A really great work! I am very honoured to be one of the 110 crochet volunteers. Participating in this project was really a very important experience in my life”.
-的清雪 Qing Xue, volunteer participant, Zhejiang Art Museum
“I feel an invisible power from some of the past and experiences you have shared with us… thank you very much for your encouragement and praise, which makes me believe in myself more. Participating in the creative process of this work makes me more determined to look in the future... I will always remember the work "Distance" we completed together in the Zhejiang Art Museum in the summer of 2025, which will affect and accompany me for the rest of my life”.
-李丽娜 Li Lina, volunteer participant, Zhejiang Art Museum
“It is about high time that something is done in this area - I live 10 minutes from here. It is my pleasure to be part of this. I never thought with this thread, in this scale, things like this is possible”.
-Iona Chinwendu, Volunteer participant, Manifesta Biennale, Barcelona
“Artists want to guide us through difficult times with beauty – and that is very political”
-NRC, Dutch newspaper
“I wanted to express my sincere gratitude for the opportunity to collaborate on your inspiring artistic project. It was a pleasure to be part of such amazing project. I am usually a little scared of making mistakes. During this project, I did it, then undid it so many times. After that, I am not afraid to make mistakes anymore.
I am fearless now. This project changed me. I'm very happy to have been part of a transformative initiative to give visibility to space and mainly women who haveoften been undervalued.
Count on me for any other initiatives; I'm a seed in the great forest you creating with your work”.
-Flavia Onofre, Volunteer participant, Manifesta Biennale, Barcelona
Many people have come to experience your work. Someone comes all the way from Kagoshima Pref. They say not only beautiful, feeling something clear and positive mind. The security staff in the gallery is also very impressed everyday. Very very happy work, they say.
-Hatsune Miyamoto, Museum maker, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum
“I went to see The Power of One once again, it made me emotional to meet people sharing the memories but also some other people who were lucky to see the work for the first time in the last minute, enjoying and getting involved in the space. This weekend will be the final days of the exhibition for The Power of One in Fukuoka. We'll take the time to remember and cherish all the memories with the work :)”
-Midori Miyakawa, Coordinator, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum
“Thank you very much for the past two months. Staying in the intense heat of Japan must have been incredibly challenging to create the artwork. I went to see the work today, and I was overwhelmed by the majestic beauty that I could’t even imagine while I was knitting the parts. It was truly an honour to be involved in the creation process of such a magnificent piece of art. I sincerely pray for your continued success and achievement”.
-Yaeko Kanamiya, Volunteer participant, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum
“This has been an amazing project …… gave us the most amazing welcome, encouragement and confidence and made us believe this could really happen. I can imagine that it’s an emotional and proud moment for them as indeed for all of us as we are all proud to have been associated with The Trees”
-Judith Kingham, Volunteer participant, Luton, UK
“It’s very beautiful and it’s quite breathtaking and the way it floats. it makes sense to have it suspended in this way, the connection to the water…reminds me of something from the past, transcending generations”
-7 News, Gold Coast, Australia
“In Singapore’s Marina bay, CHOI+SHINE architects has installed a sea of hand crocheted ‘Urchins’ that hover above the ground, forming an unusually delicate contrast against the backdrop of super-tall skyscrapers”
-Designboom
“From the mundane to the sublime, these giant humanoid electricity pylons were inspired by the idea of brightening up the ugly utilities which stretch across Iceland's immense volcanic landscape”.
-Daily Mail, UK
“There, the renowned architectural firm Choi+Shine proposed gigantic, human-shaped masts that with raised arms, the wires "carry" through landscape… We always think so "inside the box" both in Norway and Larvik. Imagine if we could be the first to do something like this”
-Østlands-Posten, Newspaper Norway
"Miraculous steel giants who tread on the Icelandic fjords... Would not that be something for Germany? Filigree steel giants, strutting through the Ruhr’s Emsland direction?"
-Zeit, Germany
"The most extraordinary power poles in the world”.
-Die Welt, Austria
"One of the coolest ideas... the high-voltage monsters suddenly transformed into a major tourist attraction."
-Dagsavien, Norway
