Hosted by Arts Council Korea
In Collaboration with TBA21 Academy at Ocean Space
Co-curated by ARKO Art Center (Arts Council Korea) & Drifting Curriculum
Supported by LUSH

Translation
ARThereby, Jihun Kim

Proofreading
Juhyun Cho(Korean), B. Jun Chae (Korean, English)

Graphic Design
Sam Kim, Dokho Shin

Filmmaker
Soohyun Choi

30th Anniversary Exhibition Celebrating the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale Every Island is a Mountain
Related Discursive Program Dear Ocean Friends

Part 1: Monsoon Futurism - (Post) Anthropocene Asian Futurism
Ute Meta Bauer, Chih-Chung Chang, Jieun Cho (ikkibawiKrr), Young-Gyung Paik, Markus Reymann

Part 2: (Post) Anthropocene Institutions - Is Another World Possible?
DESIGN EARTH, Joasia Krysa, Jade Keunhye Lim, Vera Mey, Philippe Pirotte, Eleonora Sovrani, Colin Sterling

Arts Council Korea is pleased to announce the online release of Dear Ocean Friends, held in Venice, Italy, on June 26-27, 2024. This discursive program was part of the 30th Anniversary Exhibition Celebrating the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale, titled Every Island is a Mountain. The program was co-curated by ARKO Art Center and Drifting Curriculum, a multidisciplinary curatorial research platform, in collaboration with TBA21–Academy at Ocean Space. The event brought together 12 researchers, creators, and curators from various regions, including Korea, Southeast Asia, Oceania, and Northern Europe, to discuss art in the (Post) Anthropocene era and the sustainable future of biennials and exhibitionary system, with a focus on "oceanic thinking."
The first part of the program, titled "Monsoon Futurism - (Post) Anthropocene Asian Futurism," took place at Ocean Space. It featured a lecture by Taiwanese artist Chih-Chung Chang, a lecture by Professor Young-Gyung Paik of Jeju National University, presentations by TBA21 director Markus Reymann and Ute Meta Bauer, a professor and curator at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and a screening of video works by Korean visual research band ikkibawiKrrr.

The second part of the event was held at Palazzo Malta - Ordine di Malta, the venue of the 30th Anniversary Exhibition Celebrating the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Under the title "(Post) Anthropocene Institutions - Is Another World Possible?", it included various programs such as a screening of DESIGN EARTH’s video, a presentation by Eleonora Sovrani, artistic director of We Are Here Venice, a talk by museologist Colin Sterling, and Helsinki Biennale 2023’s director Joasia Krysa, and a discussion between ARKO Art Center director Jade Keunhye Lim and Busan Biennale 2024 directors Philippe Pirotte and Vera Mey.

Moderated by Juhyun Cho, Director of Drifting Curriculum, the two-day discussion explored the possibilities for sustainable creative solidarity in Asia and the Pacific—a region impacted by historical exploitation and contemporary environmental challenges—and the role of institutions as sites of learning and communication for alternative sensibilities and perceptions to anthropocentric thinking.

Dear Ocean Friends, sponsored by Lush Korea, was organized in conjunction with Every Island is a Mountain, which was sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company, Hermès, Shinhan Bank, and Korean Air.

Detailed Description (click to open)
[Part 1]
0:00:36 Introduction (Juhyun Cho)
0:01:44 Greetings (Jade Keunhye Lim)
0:04:41 Lecture Performance: Chih-Chung Chang, Monsoon Northwards (2024)
0:29:44 Lecture: Young-Gyung Paik, In Search of Life, Repair, and Peace: The Story of the Korean Ocean in the Age of Anthropocene
0:47:54 Lecture: Markus Reymann, Navigating Oceania: Programs Built on Relations
1:05:58 Lecture: Ute Meta Bauer, Climate Crisis and Cultural Loss
1:42:28 Screening: ikkibawiKrrr Seaweed Story (2022)
2:02:13 Discussion: Young-Gyung Paik, Ute Meta Bauer, Jieun Cho (ikkibawiKrrr) - moderated by Juhyun Cho
2:02:13 Q&A

[Part 2]
0:00:36 Introduction (Juhyun Cho)
0:01:53 Greetings (Jade Keunhye Lim)
0:03:38 Screening: DESIGN EARTH, Elephant in the Room (2021, Narrated by Donna J. Haraway)
0:04:06 Lecture: Colin Sterling, Museum Planet: Marking Time in the Anthropocene Event
0:30:46 Presentation: Eleonora Sovrani Exploring the Living City
0:47:01 Presentation: Joasia Krysa New Directions May Emerge
1:08:31 Talks: Philippe Pirotte & Vera Mey, Jade Keunhye Lim, Seeing in the Dark: Exploring Alternative Enlightenment through the Biennale
1:24:20 Discussion: Jade Keunhye Lim, Joasia Krysa, Eleonora Sovrani, Colin Sterling - moderated by Juhyun Cho
1:45:51 Q&A

Filmed by Lee Jong heun and Jin Gyeonghui

We are pleased to announce the release of the exhibition opening video for ‘Every Island is a Mountain’. The exhibition symbolizes the connection of time and space through art. Like islands connected through deep-sea terrains and marine ecosystems, the exhibition explores the power of art to connect isolated individuals and divided societies.

1st Video: Introduction of the exhibition, and archive
2nd Video: Introduction of the participating artists and artworks (Part. Ⅰ)
3rd Video: Introduction of the participating artists and artworks (Part. Ⅱ)

Far and Near: 30 Years of the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale is a public program organized to help visitors understand the exhibition, Every Island is a Mountain: 30th Anniversary Exhibition Celebrating the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale, which has held from 19 April to 8 September 2024 at the Palazzo di Malta–Ordine di Malta in Venice, Italy.

Dr. Kyoo Lee, Professor of Philosophy at The City University of New York, will offer a guided tour of the exhibition with Dr. Aurora Fonda, Director of the School for Curatorial Studies Venice, to explain various stories of the Korean contemporary art centered by the history of the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale ‘far and near.’

The program is divided into three parts. Part 1 provides a brief overview of the exhibition and archive room. Parts 2 and 3 introduce the artists and works featured in the exhibition. Through the works of the 36 artists who participated in the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale, we can reflect on the past and present of the Korean Pavilion and discuss the meaning of Korean art.

Detailed Description (click to open)
1st Video
00:18 Overall Introduction of Every Island is a Mountain
02:13 the archival publication
02:20 Lee Wan
02:52 Kim In Kyum
03:19 Beginning Construction of the Korean Pavilion
03:49 Bahc Yiso
04:00 Yun Hyong-keun
04:12 Jheon Soocheon
04:30 Archive Space (including the diagram of the Korean Pavilion of the Venice Art Biennale)
05:33 Songhee Noh, Paik Jongkwan
05:52 Korean Pavilion and Nam June Paik

2nd Video
00:18 Nakhee Sung
00:41 siren eun young jung
01:17 Park Sejin
02:23 Noh Sang-Kyoon
02:51 Lee Yongbaek
03:11 Sora Kim
03:23 Sungsic Moon
03:40 Jewyo Rhii
04:02 Kim Beom
04:10 Ham Jin
04:39 Jane Jin Kaisen
05:04 Yunchul Kim
05:19 Gimhongsok
05:41 Kiwon Park
06:03 Yeondoo Jung
06:30 Heinkuhn Oh
06:55 Bae Young-whan
07:26 Moon Kyungwon & Jeon Joonho
07:52 Cody Choi
08:21 Hyungkoo Lee

3rd Video
00:18 Nakyoung Sung
01:00 hyung woo Lee
01:24 Do Ho Suh
02:04 Kimsooja
03:00 Michael Joo
04:03 Inkie Hwang
04:56 Chung Seoyoung
05:27 Choi Jeong Hwa
05:44 Ik-Joong Kang
06:02 Hwayeon Nam
06:30, 09:09 Kwak Hoon
06:45 Transparent Pavilion
07:28 Review of Every Island is a Mountain from Kyoo Lee and Aurora Fonda

Brief Biography of Moderator and Interlocutors
Kyoo Lee (Moderator / Interlocutor)
2007- Present Professor of Philosophy, City University of New York
2022- Present Co-operator and Chief Curator of Cosmogram, a music label and cultural production house based in Venice, Italy
2024 Participated in research for Lee Wan's new work KonneXus: Mountains in Islands, 30th Anniversary Exhibition Celebrating the Korean Pavilion of Venice Art Biennale, Every Island is a Mountain
2021 Editorial manager of the Korean Pavilion of the 59th Venice Art Biennale

Aurora Fonda (Guest Interlocutor)
2004-Present Director and Founder of the School for Curatorial Studies in Venice
2015 Artistic Director of the Slovenian Pavilion of the 56th Venice Art Biennale
2001 Artistic Director of the Slovenian Pavilion of the 49th Venice Art Biennale

Songhee Noh
RAS(Random Access Space), 2024. Single channel video, color, sound, 12min.

The work features architectural plans, documents, and drawings created during the construction of the Korean Pavilion from 1993 to 1995. Most of the materials were donated in 2023 to the Arts Council Korea (ARKO Art Archive) by Franco Mancuso, who collaborated on the pavilion’s construction in Venice with architect Seok Chul Kim. Amid the globalization of the 1990s and the social milieu of Korea’s civilian government, the establishment of the Korean Pavilion was made possible through the vigorous efforts of artists Nam June Paik, Seok Chul Kim, and Franco Mancuso. Beyond the faxes, letters, and architectural models exchanged by the Korean and Italian architects, viewers can explore the work through the fragmentary records and subjective memories preserved from the arduous construction process, allowing for diverse interpretations. For instance, the noises emanating from the construction process forge a novel rhythm, inviting viewers to imaginatively and playfully reconstruct the atmosphere of that time.

Paik Jongkwan
Waiting and Breathing, 2024, Single channel video, color, sound, 8min.

Paik Jongkwan (b. 1982) creates video works that capture and recontextualize images and sounds through a distinctive approach of archiving and research. Rooted in an examination of the act of observing and its perspectives, his work intricately organizes scenes across multiple dimensions. This approach offers viewers a chance to experience an entirely different concept of time through scenes that emerge inevitably from chance.

Focusing his exploration on the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Paik delves into over three decades of its history. In his creative and exhibition processes, Paik observes the diverse occupation of space—from curators, artists, handlers, guides, and spectators to a cat nestled among steel frames and the shifting shadows of trees under the ever-changing Mediterranean sun. Beginning with a record from a visitor to the Korean Pavilion in 2013, who felt their experience was akin to 'waiting, breathing, and being part of a kind of transformative state,' the work Waiting and Breathing contemplates the anticipation of future exhibitions and artworks, grounded in a transformative history. It also seeks to envision a perspective where all images of the 'Korean Pavilion,' though entangled, support and exist independently of one another, illustrating their interconnected existence.