Chun Kwang Young
Times Reimagined
59th Venice Biennale
PALAZZO CONTARINI POLIGNAC
23.04 → 21.11.2022
A Chun Kwang Young Exhibition
with the collaboration of architect Stefano Boeri
Curated by:
Yongwoo Lee
Manuela Lucà-Dazio
Liyin Wang
Exhibition Designers:
Manuela Lucà-Dazio
Sebastiano Giannesini
Curatorial coordination by:
Minyoung Lee-Bauwens
Supported by:
Ground Museum
Interart Channel
Promoted by:
The Boghossian Foundation
The exhibition Chun Kwang Young: Times Reimagined presents the aesthetics of the Korean artist at the Palazzo Contarini Polignac during the 59th Biennale of Venice. The exhibition is curated by Yongwoo Lee, and includes 40 large-scale mulberry-paper reliefs, sculptures, and installations by Chun.
Artist Chun Kwang Young's works reflect various socio-ecological subjects arising from environmental abnormalities. A sculpture in the shape of a virus, an enlarged heart suffering from polluted air with an irregular beating sound, a deformed mushroom overgrown to the size of four meters, a rough and wounded planet that seems tough for humans to inhabit appear in artistic forms based on stunning imagination.
For the past 30 years, Chun has researched and practiced under the theme of interconnectedness of living beings, developing a unique methodology of conveying his emotion and ambition. He finally settled in the medium of mulberry paper as his dominant aesthetic language. Thus, the nature of durability and permanence embodied in the mulberry paper adds contextual layers to his works.
In ecology, interconnectedness is an absolute factor for the reproduction and survival of all living things, including humans, and it means an essential requirement for ensuring genetic diversity and enhancing sustainability under any adverse conditions such as climate change. Therefore, interconnectedness is the DNA of healing that overcomes the oppression and loss stemming from social disconnection. On the other hand, it is also a strong compelling force that makes art live up to its role, mediating among different discourses for human reflections.
The paper he uses is not mass-produced, but handmade from mulberry trees according to the traditional paper-making techniques in East Asia. Its maximum durability can be witnessed over 1,300 years surprisingly. The artist used disassembled paper from discarded books that were about 100 years old to make reliefs, sculptures and installations. In this sense, the paper used in his works has a previous life that existed in the form of book as a storage of knowledge and information, and was resurrected this time as artwork through the hands of the artist Chun.
Chun Kwang Young invited Italian architect Stefano Boeri as a collaborative partner for this project. In this cross-disciplinary dialogue, Boeri responded with his work of “Hanji House”, which conceptualized and reinterpreted Chun’s eco-friendly paper art into architecture. It is also a simple and poetic manifesto by Boeri that corresponds to the ecological organicity implied by Chun’s art formulated with ideas of time, space, humanism and ontology. Though installed in Palazzo Balbi Valier, Hanji House is actually foldable and reconstructable. Boeri is the one who coined the term “vertical forest” which has become a buzzword for today's sustainable architecture and urban reforestation.
The exhibition Chun Kwang Young: Times Reimagined presents the aesthetics of the Korean artist at the Palazzo Contarini Polignac during the 59th Biennale of Venice. The exhibition is curated by Yongwoo Lee, and includes 40 large-scale mulberry-paper reliefs, sculptures, and installations by Chun.
Artist Chun Kwang Young's works reflect various socio-ecological subjects arising from environmental abnormalities. A sculpture in the shape of a virus, an enlarged heart suffering from polluted air with an irregular beating sound, a deformed mushroom overgrown to the size of four meters, a rough and wounded planet that seems tough for humans to inhabit appear in artistic forms based on stunning imagination.
For the past 30 years, Chun has researched and practiced under the theme of interconnectedness of living beings, developing a unique methodology of conveying his emotion and ambition. He finally settled in the medium of mulberry paper as his dominant aesthetic language. Thus, the nature of durability and permanence embodied in the mulberry paper adds contextual layers to his works.
In ecology, interconnectedness is an absolute factor for the reproduction and survival of all living things, including humans, and it means an essential requirement for ensuring genetic diversity and enhancing sustainability under any adverse conditions such as climate change. Therefore, interconnectedness is the DNA of healing that overcomes the oppression and loss stemming from social disconnection. On the other hand, it is also a strong compelling force that makes art live up to its role, mediating among different discourses for human reflections.
The paper he uses is not mass-produced, but handmade from mulberry trees according to the traditional paper-making techniques in East Asia. Its maximum durability can be witnessed over 1,300 years surprisingly. The artist used disassembled paper from discarded books that were about 100 years old to make reliefs, sculptures and installations. In this sense, the paper used in his works has a previous life that existed in the form of book as a storage of knowledge and information, and was resurrected this time as artwork through the hands of the artist Chun.
Chun Kwang Young invited Italian architect Stefano Boeri as a collaborative partner for this project. In this cross-disciplinary dialogue, Boeri responded with his work of “Hanji House”, which conceptualized and reinterpreted Chun’s eco-friendly paper art into architecture. It is also a simple and poetic manifesto by Boeri that corresponds to the ecological organicity implied by Chun’s art formulated with ideas of time, space, humanism and ontology. Though installed in Palazzo Balbi Valier, Hanji House is actually foldable and reconstructable. Boeri is the one who coined the term “vertical forest” which has become a buzzword for today's sustainable architecture and urban reforestation.
Photography Courtesy CKY Studio
© Aliice Clancy
