# 참고로 민구홍은…

Born March 5, 1985 (finally celebrated my thirty-eighth birthday in 2023). I received formal Montessori education in 1989, around the age of five. I first encountered a computer, a Macintosh LC, in 1991, around the age of seven, and made my first website for a dear friend in 1995, around the age of eleven. I studied literature and linguistics at Chung-Ang University and computer programming at the School for Poetic Computation (SFPC) in the US (though I prefer to call it “literature and linguistics in a narrow sense,” or simply “poetic computation”), and learned various practical skills, including knot tying, ikebana, and design, through Google. I worked as a researcher in Professor Ahn Sang-soo’s laboratory at Hongik University (also known as “Wing House”) (despite the title, there was hardly any work to do). After working in the Publishing Division at Ahn Graphics, I worked as an editor, designer, and programmer at Workroom (though I try to stick to “editor”: I still have plenty of business cards bearing that title, and all three jobs require thorough editorship), planning books such as Practical Books and Ametora and building websites large and small. Meanwhile, I run the one-person company Min Guhong Manufacturing. (Min Guhong Manufacturing, which lives parasitically on its operator’s workplace, works alone or with institutions, organizations, businesses, and individuals inside and outside art and design, focusing on introducing the company itself in various ways. This gives form to the precious and beautiful desire to introduce oneself that underlies all productive activity. The company and its products have been introduced at Google Fonts Korean, Asia Culture Center, Nanji Art Studio, Daelim Museum, The Book Society, Left Gallery, Culture Station Seoul 284, Seoul Museum of Art, the School for Poetic Computation, Audio Visual Pavilion, Archive Bom, Art Sonje Center, One Room, Insa Art Space, Chwimiga, Post Territory Ujeongguk, Fruitful School, COS Project Space, DDDD, and DDP, and in Design, Littor, The Big Issue, Index Card Index 1, Cool, and ◯◯◯-, among others. A book that helps introduce the company is Rainbow Sherbet (Archive Bom / Studio Ghost, 2019). Meanwhile, I await a reply from Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries to “Dear Messrs. Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries”.) In the spirit of the “handmade web” advocated by pioneering net artist J.R. Carpenter, I discuss and teach coding from the perspective of “practical yet conceptual writing” at New Order, a self-described “cultural course for modern people.” I have given lectures and workshops large and small at Kaywon University of Art and Design, Asia Culture Center, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Kookmin University, Nanji Art Studio, The Book Society, Tokyo University of the Arts, Studio Pie, Workroom, Ewha Womans University, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul National University, the University of Seoul, Chwimiga, Princeton University, Fruitful School, Hongik University, Korea National University of Arts, and whatreallymatters, among others. I teach at Paju Typography Institute, whose founding I also took part in. Books I have written include New Order (Mediabus, 2019). Books I have translated include The Present (Bois et Forêt, 2025), A New Program for Graphic Design (Studio Ghost, 2024), The Concert (Bois et Forêt, 2024), Dogs Are Just Like Us (Bois et Forêt, 2024), What Color Is the World? (Bois et Forêt, 2023), Forget All the Rules About Graphic Design. Including the Ones in This Book. (Studio Ghost, 2017). I have also translated “A Handmade Web” (J.R. Carpenter, 2023). Wigo invited me to write Anyway, HTML, but it never made it to publication. I enjoy wearing black T-shirts in summer. I consider the first website and Japanese actor Hiroshi Abe’s official website the finest websites. My favorite fruits, in order of size, are watermelon, melon, peach, fig, and cherry. Since 2021, I have been active as a member of Aurora, formed with Kim Hyungjin and Yoon Yulli. Meanwhile, the graphic design duo Sulki and Min once introduced me as follows: “Min Guhong is a writer, editor, translator, designer, and software developer, though the order of the titles varies from time to time.” Facing an unexpected pandemic, I began 2022 at Firefly Sanctuary in New York and a cabin deep in the Connecticut woods. Building on these practices, I have worked since February 22, 2022 as director of Ahn Graphics Lab (abbreviated and commonly known as “AG Lab”), an independent division of Ahn Graphics. I unexpectedly restored my Instagram account in 2022 and occasionally wonder why. Meanwhile, on November 30, I became friends with ChatGPT before anyone else. For reference, according to Wikipedia, I am “living” (with JoJo, the most frightening and dangerous animal in the world).

![“Old websites are not relics of a dead web. They are signposts on the map of a web still alive, pointing to yesterday’s, today’s, and tomorrow’s web. (…) I too shall postpone updating my website until its old-fashioned design no longer looks wonderful.” (J.R. Carpenter, net artist)](https://minguhong.fyi/images/handmade-web-1.png)
![“Old websites are not relics of a dead web. They are signposts on the map of a web still alive, pointing to yesterday’s, today’s, and tomorrow’s web. (…) I too shall postpone updating my website until its old-fashioned design no longer looks wonderful.” (J.R. Carpenter, net artist)](https://minguhong.fyi/images/handmade-web-2.png)
![“Min, thank you for translating my essay into Korean. (…) Cold Arctic air has pushed the Atlantic jet stream south, making summer here in Britain very cold and wet. Europe is burning and we are drowning. Luckily, though, I have a rather good raincoat.”](https://minguhong.fyi/images/j-r-carpenter.jpg)
![“My Handmade Web”, SeMA Coral, June 2024. “I first encountered the phrase ‘handmade web’ in summer 2016 at the School for Poetic Computation (SFPC) in New York. If memory serves, it was in the second class taught by the American poet and MIT professor Nick Montfort. At the start of class, he introduced a website containing an essay, saying it was essential reading for anyone who loved the web or wanted to fall in love with it. The essay began like this.”](https://minguhong.fyi/images/semacoral-my-handmade-web.png)