The Korean Cultural Centre Canada is pleased to share the information on the Korean Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition–La Biennale di Venezia, as its 2022 [Virtual K-Culture: Visual Art 1] program.
This introduction is based on the contents from the Korean pavilion 2022 (http://www.korean-pavilion.or.kr/) and the images from the Arts Council Korea's press release (https://www.arko.or.kr/board/view/4057?cid=1804453).
The Korean Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition–La Biennale di Venezia
Yunchul Kim: Gyre
Curator: Young-chul Lee
Preview: 20 - 22nd April 2022
Exhibition: 23rd April - 27th November 2022
Gyre at the Korean Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition–La Biennale di Venezia will present a series of interconnected and large-scale installations by artist Yunchul Kim, that will invite visitors into an alternative universe wherein objects, beings and nature co-exist. Seven installations, including three new works, on display will each work together like a breathing body, powered by invisible matter to decentralise anthropocentric perceptions of reality.
According to Kim, “in the infinite cycles of creation and extinction, the world and its matter constantly gyrates and descends. Gyre explores the world as a labyrinth where “mattereality” matters rather than materiality, embracing non-human objects and material reality.” This is the central theme of the Korean Pavilion’s exhibition, which permeates everything from energy to matter, life, and the universe.
The exhibition will reflect Kim’s transdisciplinary practice that spans art, literature, mythology, philosophy, and science. Gyre will be a swirling cosmic event in the Giardini that invites visitors on a journey into the world of materials, centred around three themes: The Swollen Suns, The Path of Gods, and The Great Outdoors.
The Swollen Suns refers to the dissolution of human-centric absolutism. It is also the name of a monumental installation Argos - the Swollen Suns (2022), consisting of glass tubes that will flash with light as it detects muon particles, making this invisible matter visible. Once detected, the signals are sent to a chandelier-shaped installation within the Pavilion, titled Impulse (2018), that pumps seawater sourced from Korea and Venice through hundreds of intertwined tubes surrounding the sculpture. Soundscapes of flowing seawater will fill the Pavilion, as the water reacts with the work’s aluminium body, creating a multi-sensory experience.
The Path of Gods (신경, 神經) is the literal translation of its traditional Chinese characters, defined as a nerve. A fifty-metre-long kinetic piece Chroma V (2022) in the centre of the Pavilion will pulsate and breathe as it receives signals from Argos - The Swollen Suns. This serpentine sculpture links all the artworks and the surrounding spaces together, resembling the central nerves connecting different parts of the body.
The Great Outdoors reflects the absolute reality that exists beyond perception. La Poussière de Soleils (2022) will be a living sculpture that merges the artificial and natural. It is made from a new material, created by Kim, that combines ground vermiculite and water to create a kaleidoscope of colour. Discreetly connected to devices, microcomputers and software, the installation will control the wavelength and conviction of light in relation to its own density. It draws inspiration from French poet Raymond Roussel’s play Dust of Suns.
Argos-the Swollen Sun
Chroma V
Impulse
Flare
Gyre is curated by Young-chul Lee and commissioned by Arts Council Korea, in partnership with Hyundai Motor Company. Arts Council Korea supports arts organisations and artists in Korea and overseas through programs, initiatives, support, and funding. Hyundai Motor Company, supporting art initiatives driven by long-term partnerships with global museums - the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA), Tate and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), has been continuing its partnership with the Korean Pavilion since 2015.
About the artist
Yunchul Kim (b. 1970, South Korea) is an artist and an electronic music composer whose practice focuses on the artistic potential and the reality of matter through installation, drawings, writing, and music. Informed by his transdisciplinary research combining philosophy, chemistry, physics, mathematics, cosmology, anthropology, and mythology he considers the complex entanglement of beings between human, non-human, and things by examining the ‘world of materials’. He led the research group Mattereality at the Korea Institute for Advanced Study. He was a member of the artistic research project group Liquid Things at University of Applied Arts Vienna, and the art and science project team Fluid Skies. He is the winner of the 2016 Collide International Award at CERN, and has been awarded by VIDA 15.0, Arts Electronica, and Transmediale. In 2014, he founded Studio Locus Solus in Seoul. His recent presentations include Yokohama Triennale, Japan (2020); KUMU, Estonia (2020); National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan (2020); iMAL, Belgium (2020); CCCB, Spain (2019); and ZKM, Germany (2018). www.yunchulkim.net, @studio_locus_solus
About the curator
Young-chul Lee (b.1957, South Korea) is a curator, an art critic, an expert in urban public design, and was formerly a professor at Kaywon University of Arts and Design, Korea. Lee began his curatorial career in 1993 with the co-curation of Across the Pacific at the Queens Museum of Art in New York City, United States. He was the first director of the Nam June Paik Art Center, the artistic director of the second Gwangju Biennale (1997), and the founder of the Anyang Public Art Project (2005). Lee co-curated the second Busan International Contemporary Art Festival (2000) and was the president of the preparatory project for the opening of the Asia Culture Center (2011-2015), Korea.
Source:
Korean Pavilion 2022 http://www.korean-pavilion.or.kr/
Arts Council Korea https://www.arko.or.kr/board/view/4057?cid=1804453
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