'Experience Korea in 2086 Through Games' - Korea Pavilion Exhibition at Venice Biennale Architecture Exhibition

Arts Council Korea Unveils Exhibition Plan for Korean Pavilion at Venice Biennale Architecture Exhibition
Questions on Population Cliff and Environmental Crisis

Dongincheon Baedari, preserved for 20 years with a will to protect against redevelopment pressure; Gunsan, facing a population cliff due to regional decline; and Gyeogansan, where indigenous people and migrants live together. What will these areas look like in 2086, when the world population is expected to reach its peak?

SoA, If You Open the Window, Project _Destructive Creation_, 2023, Digital Print on Paper [Photo by SoA]

The Korean Pavilion exhibition at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, opening this May, starts from this question and is organized around the themes of population issues and environmental crises.

On the 12th, the Korea Arts & Culture Education Service announced the exhibition plan for the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale International Architecture Exhibition at the seminar room on the 3rd floor of Arko Art Center in Jongno-gu, Seoul.

This exhibition will be the first to proceed under a joint artistic director system since the opening of the Korean Pavilion in 1995. Professor Kyung Park from the University of California, San Diego, and Soik Jeong, CEO of the Urban Mediation Project, serve as co-artistic directors.

Artistic director Soik Jeong stated at the announcement, "We planned the exhibition to move beyond passive viewing with the eyes alone," adding, "We plan to present an exhibition where visitors can actively participate and interact in real time."

The Korean Pavilion exhibition, under the theme "2086: How Will We?", contemplates how we should live together in 2086, the year when the world population is expected to peak.

N H D M Architects, Line 4, Project _The Migrating Future_, 2023, Digital print on paper. [Photo by N H D M Architects]

Director Jeong said, "We assumed that the environmental crisis will fundamentally change communities and societies and could bring a new paradigm to human civilization," adding, "We want to remind that through industrialization, urbanization, modernization, colonization, and globalization, we have pursued material pleasures, and in the process, architecture and cities have been means, expressions, and records of humanity revealing ideology and desire." He continued, "We need to solve the crisis through reevaluation and ultimately require a comprehensive reform of lifestyle and thinking."

The exhibition is composed of two main parts: the site-specific "Four Future Community Projects" and the visitor-participatory "Together How" game.

Based on case studies of three communities?the international city and mega-city Dongincheon with a population of 3 million, the mid-sized city Gunsan with 260,000 residents, and a low-density village within Gyeonggi Province with 1.36 million people?the Future Community Projects are presented.

The project team consists of architects and local experts for each community, exploring the processes of urbanization, modernization, and Westernization. Reflecting on this dialectical process, the results envision the architectural futures of the three cities and will be exhibited as three future urban scenarios and one video work.

After viewing the future scenarios, visitors respond to 14 questions related to economic, social, resource, and territorial issues through the TV quiz show-style "Together How" game. While the four future community projects are intended for viewing, this game aims for active participation and intervention by visitors.

Jung Jae-kyung, Some Future, 2023, still image, 3-channel video, color, sound, 8 minutes, [Photo by artist Jung Jae-kyung]

Visitors can see the results of their chosen game options in real time on an electronic display. Through this process, the connection structure of "individual choice?collective choice?social ecological issues" is revealed. It suggests that the roots of the environmental crisis and human extinction scenarios we face actually lie within our bodies and minds.

Via video, co-artistic director Kyung Park, who appeared at the announcement, said, "Architecture is not just about physical space," adding, "Through this exhibition, rather than presenting concrete answers to an unpredictable future, we wanted to convey a message to think about and prepare for the future together."

This year’s Venice Biennale International Architecture Exhibition, themed "The Laboratory of the Future," will be held for about six months from May 20 to November 26 at the Castello Giardini and Arsenale exhibition halls in Venice, Italy. The Korean Pavilion will hold its official opening ceremony at 4:15 PM local time on May 18.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.