Online Release of the 58th Venice Biennale Korean Pavilion Return Exhibition

원본보기 아이콘

[Asia Economy Reporter Byunghee Park] The Korea Arts & Culture Education Service is releasing online the return exhibition of the 58th Venice Biennale Korean Pavilion titled "History Has Failed Us, but No Matter."

On the 24th at 4 p.m., a preview of the exhibition was first released through the Arko Art Center's YouTube channel, and starting from the 27th, an interview with artistic director Kim Hyunjin (about 20 minutes) and introduction videos of works by participating artists Nam Hwayeon, Jung Eunyoung, and Jane Jin Kaisen (about 25 minutes) will be sequentially released.

This exhibition is commissioned by the Korea Arts & Culture Education Service, with artistic director Kim Hyunjin (Senior Curator for Asia at KADIST) overseeing the exhibition, and features three representative artists: Nam Hwayeon, Jung Eunyoung, and Jane Jin Kaisen.

The exhibition presents the history and present of Korea and East Asia's modernization from various perspectives with a complex gender viewpoint. Through the exhibition, the artists question who has defined the norms of historical narration, who has yet to become part of that history, and what we can see when critical gender consciousness intervenes within the solid strata of East Asia's modernization history.

The exhibition title, "History Has Failed Us, but No Matter," is taken from the first sentence of the novel "Pachinko" published in 2017 by author Min Jin Lee. Pachinko is a novel that vividly depicts the dynamic lives of subordinate women placed within the diaspora of East Asia and the turbulent history of the early 20th century through the Zainichi perspective. Similarly, the exhibition encapsulates, along with the context of each work, the oppression or trials from the "History" that speaks of men's history, and yet the dignity and self-assurance of various subjects who struggle against the world regardless.

In the first exhibition hall of Arko Art Center, Nam Hwayeon's new work "Dancer of the Peninsula (2019)" contemplates the dance and radical, extraordinary life trajectory of modern female artist Choi Seunghee, who conflicted with and escaped from nationalism during colonialism and the Cold War. Also presented is Jung Eunyoung's "Performance of Flash, Afterimage, Speed, and Noise (2019)," a sensuous multi-channel video installation showcasing the queer performance aesthetics and political nature of Lee Deungwoo, the most outstanding surviving female national theater (女性國劇) male-role actor, and the next generation of performers continuing that lineage. In the second exhibition hall, Jane Jin Kaisen's new work "Community of Parting (2019)" can be seen, which actively interprets the Bari folktale as an archetype of female diaspora in the modernization process while reflecting on issues of separation and boundaries.

The exhibition was scheduled to open on March 5 at the Arko Art Center in Seoul, but the opening has been continuously delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The opening date of the 58th Venice Biennale Korean Pavilion return exhibition will be determined according to social distancing policies related to COVID-19.

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