Modern art to dominate Venice Biennale

The seven-channel video installation "The Ways of Folding Space & Flying" by Moon Kyung-won and Jeon Joon-ho will be presented at the Korean Pavilion at the 2015 Venice Biennale from May 9 to Nov. 22.
/ Courtesy of Arts Council Korea

Artist duo Moon Kyung-won, left, and Jeon Joon-ho.
/ Courtesy of Arts Council Korea

By Kwon Mee-yoo

Korean contemporary art will have a strong presence at the Venice Biennale 2015 starting in May through its national pavilion, main exhibit and collateral events.

The largest international contemporary art festival in Venice is known for its national pavilions representing each country. Korea has had one since 1995 when it snagged the last site in the Giardini area.

Artist duo Moon Kyung-won and Jeon Joon-ho gave a glimpse of their new video installation titled "The Ways of Folding Space & Flying" at a press conference Thursday. The duo gained attention for their award-winning research project "News from Nowhere," which explored the role of art in the apocalypse in 2012.

The Korea Pavilion is known for its unique architecture featuring a glass wall designed by Kim Seok-chul and Franco Mancuso and some artists seen this as a challenge and turned the building into a white cube gallery. However, Moon, Jeon and commissioner Lee Sook-kyung, a research curator at the Tate Research Centre: Asia-Pacific, chose to maximize the architectural characteristics.

For their new work, Moon and Jeon thoroughly researched the pavilion and its site and found that it is located on a relatively higher ground in the floating city. Their imagination sparked and they thought of Venice becoming submerged, except for the Korean Pavilion on the higher ground.

Their raison d'etre for the art is shown in this multi-channel juxtaposing of the biennale's history and national pavilion system.

"The 'way of folding space' mentioned in the title refers to how the surviving Korean Pavilion shortens the distance between Venice and Seoul. Flying is something humans always dreamed, but can never happen – art is similar to flying in some ways," Jeon said.

Top actress Im Soo-jung, who also appeared in the duo's previous video "News from Nowhere," again starred in the artwork, playing an androgynous human of the future.

The duo built a replica set of the Korean Pavilion in Korea and filmed there, literally transforming the venue into a futuristic laboratory of art.

Lee said she picked the duo to represent Korea this year as they deal with the discourse on the sociality of art. "They throw a question to the viewers – what can an artist do facing a grave crisis for civilization? But they don't give away an answer, rather leaving it open to the audiences," the commissioner said.

For more information, visit www.korean-pavilion.or.kr.

'All the World's Futures'

In addition to the futuristic presentation of the Korean Pavilion, three Korean artists will take part in the main exhibit curated by Okwui Enwezor. The Nigerian-born curator selected "All the World's Futures" as the theme, tackling global social and political issues and what role art plays in the contemporary society.

Three Korean artists – Im Heung-soon, Kim A-young and Nam Hwa-yeon – are invited to the thematic exhibit this year. This is the first time for Korean artists to participate in the main exhibit since Koo Jeong-a and Yang Hae-gue in 2009. The first Korean artist to participate in the main exhibit was Suh Do-ho in 2001, followed by four artists Chang Young-hae, Gim Hong-sok, Joo Jae-hwan and Kim So-ra in 2003.

Im will showcase a documentary titled "Factory Complex," exploring the life of female laborers in Asia. Kim will present "Zepheth, whale oil from the Hanging Gardens to you, Shell," an installation and performance interweaving historical facts in artistic form, while Nam's "The Botany of Desire" is a video piece revolving around the Dutch Tulip Bubble of 1637.

'Dansaekhwa' gets attention

An official collateral event of the 56th international art exhibition sheds light on "dansaekhwa," or Korean monochrome paintings, at Palazzo Contarini-Polignac in Venice from May 7 to Aug. 16.

Co-organized by the Boghossian Foundation in Brussels, Kukje Gallery in Seoul and Tina Kim Gallery in New York, the special exhibit features six artists – Chung Chang-sup, Chung Sang-hwa, Ha Chong-hyun, Kim Whan-ki, Lee U-fan and Park Seo-bo – and showcases masterpieces of dansaekhwa which defined the Korean art movement in the 1970s through endless discipline.

Among other collateral events, Nine Dragon Head's "Jump into the Unknown" will feature Korean artists who lead the search of the unknown, including Choi Ik-gyu, Goo Sung-kyun and Yoo Joung-hye, while Lee Mae-lee takes part in " Humanistic Nature and Society – An Insight into the Future" organized by the Shanghai Himalayas Museum.

Two Korean media artists Lee Lee-nam and Han Ho will take part in "Personal Structures – Crossing Borders" at Palazzo Bembo and Palazzo Mora, an exhibition not affiliated with the Venice Biennale.