After the Winter of Martial Law, the Korean Pavilion Opens as a "Liberation Space" at the Venice Biennale

The Korean Pavilion at Venice’s Giardini has reopened not merely as an exhibition space, but as a “body” and a “shared refuge.” This year, the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale draws the history since liberation, the martial law and public squares of winter 2024, and the memories of Jeju 4·3 and the May 18 Democratization Movement into a single space. The question posed by the Korean Pavilion on the institutional stage of a national pavilion is simple: Is “liberation” now a concluded event, or an ongoing movement that must still be carried out?

No Hyeri, bearing, 2026. Installation view of Fortress and Nest in the Liberation Zone. Korea Arts Council

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On May 6, at the Korean Pavilion in the Giardini, Venice, the Korea Arts Council officially opened the Korean Pavilion exhibition for the 61st International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale 2026, titled “Liberation Space: Fortress and Nest.” The exhibition was curated by Artistic Director Choi Bitna, with artists No Hyeri and Choi Goeun participating. It will welcome visitors for approximately seven months, from May 9 to November 22. Since opening as the 26th national pavilion at the Giardini in 1995, the Korean Pavilion has symbolized the entry of contemporary Korean art onto the international stage.

The core concept of this year’s Korean Pavilion is “Liberation Space.” While the term typically refers to the transitional period from the 1945 liberation to the establishment of the two Koreas’ governments in 1948, this exhibition refuses to confine it to a specific point in the past. The official exhibition materials redefine “liberation space” as an unfinished time, a space of recurring struggle, and a practice of care and community. In particular, it uses Korea’s experiences in public squares during 2024-2025 as a contemporary starting point, transforming the pavilion itself into a “living, breathing monument.”

Choi Goeun’s “Meridian” penetrates both the interior and exterior of the Korean Pavilion using copper pipes. The industrial materials, usually used for plumbing, pierce and traverse the building’s walls and cylindrical structures, reopening previously closed spaces on the second floor. The title of the work refers both to geographic meridians and to energy meridians in Eastern medicine. The building is thus presented not as a fixed structure, but as a body in need of unblocking and restored circulation.

In contrast, No Hyeri’s “Bearing” evokes the sense of a nest. Around 4,000 wax-coated organza pieces envelop the interior of the pavilion, and visitors move inside and outside, passing through eight “stations.” These stations represent spaces of mourning, memory, sharing, waiting, outlook, daily life, mending, and design. “Bearing” refers both to a machine part that supports rotation and to the acts of “enduring,” “supporting,” “changing direction,” and “giving birth.” Through this dual meaning, the exhibition reimagines liberation not as a grand declaration, but as a daily act of endurance and care.

'Fortress and Nest in the Liberation Space' installation view, 2026. Photo by Gam Donghwan. Korea Arts Council

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The exhibition goes beyond the installations of the two artists. Farmer and activist Kim Hooju, artist and singer Lee Lang, Nobel laureate writer Han Kang, photographer Hwang Yeji, and artist Christian Nyampeta participate as “fellows.” Han Kang presents a sculptural work, “The Funeral,” based on the opening scene of her novel “I Do Not Bid Farewell,” in the “Mourning Station.” Hwang Yeji contributes photographs and writings documenting scenes in the square following the declaration of martial law in December 2024. Kim Hooju adds works drawing on experiences at the Namtaeryeong site and using native seeds as metaphor. Lee Lang has composed a new song, “Our ㅁ,” which is placed in the “Sharing Station.”

This year’s Venice Biennale itself opened amid political tensions. The 61st International Art Exhibition, curated by Coyo Kuo under the theme “In Minor Keys,” runs from May 9 to November 22. According to official materials, the Biennale features 100 national pavilions and 31 collateral events, with the main exhibition inviting 110 teams of artists, duos, and collectives. Kuo passed away last year, and the Biennale realized his envisioned exhibition with the consent of his family and the curatorial team.

Around the opening, the limited return of the Russian Pavilion, protests surrounding the Israeli Pavilion, and the resignation of international jurors underscored that the Biennale can no longer be seen as a purely artistic festival. Against this backdrop, the Korean Pavilion’s “Liberation Space” aligns Korea’s unique historical memories with urgent questions facing the global art world today, using the language of exhibition to revisit issues of state violence, public squares, mourning, care, and sovereignty.

'Fortress and Nest in the Liberation Space' Korean Pavilion Exterior, 2026. Photo by Gam Donghwan. Korea Arts & Culture Committee.

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Early international media attention has focused on the spatial intervention of the Korean Pavilion. The art magazine Frieze named the Korean Pavilion as one of the must-see exhibitions at the Giardini and Arsenale this year. Frieze highlighted how Choi Goeun’s copper pipe installation transforms the pavilion into a single body, while No Hyeri’s organza structure guides visitors’ movement through eight stations. Rather than erecting the national pavilion as a static monument, the Korean Pavilion recasts it as a space where the body moves and memory circulates.

The collaboration between the Korean and Japanese pavilions is seen in a similar light. As two of the few Asian national pavilions at the Giardini, and located next to each other, this year marks their first official collaboration. Part of Choi Goeun’s “Meridian” extends to the Japanese Pavilion site, while “bearers” performing No Hyeri’s “Bearing” walk a baby doll from the Japanese Pavilion to the Korean Pavilion as a performance. The undergrowth and boundaries between the two pavilions thus become part of the exhibition.

The exhibition does not end in Venice. The Korean Pavilion project is scheduled to continue with a return exhibition at the Arko Art Center in the spring of 2027 and a touring exhibition at the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles in the fall of the same year. Thus, “Liberation Space” is less a single exhibition title than a kind of network that begins at the national pavilion in Venice and continues to other locations in Korea and abroad. The liberation presented by this year’s Korean Pavilion is not a finished declaration, but a state continuously enacted as it moves from place to place.

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