A U.S. military uniform becomes a bathrobe. Combat boots take on the soft, playful look of jelly shoes. A military duffel bag becomes a Birkin-style handbag. A urinal is adorned with colorful beads, as though it, too, needs accessories to stand out. Bathroom mirrors are covered with images of male fashion models drawn from the artist's own Instagram feed. Inside a former military bathroom and shower at Camp Greaves in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, installation artist Yeon Jin-yeong gives symbols of military masculinity an unexpected makeover. Objects associated with toughness and discipline become pretty, pliable and decorative. His installation for “DMZ Open Exhibition: Staging” explores and questions Korea’s changing ideals of masculinity, where traditional expectations of toughness, endurance and conformity coexist with a growing pressure for men to refine, display and reinvent their appearance in contemporary Korea. “When those images of conventionally attractive men keep appearing in my Reels, I start disliking myself,” he said during a recent interview with The Korea Times. In