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Korea Herald
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Abu Dhabi hosts first joint exhibition of Korean art with SeMA
'Layered Medium: We Are in Open Circuits' introduces modern and contemporary Korean art to UAE with narrative that resonates across cultures ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Seeing familiar artwork presented in a novel manner, in a different context and a different environment, might be what is needed to awaken one to new possibilities and stimulate new thinking. 'Layered Medium: We Are in Open Ciruits,' an exhibition of modern and contemporary Korean art running at Manarat Al Saadiyat in Abu Dhabi, UAE, through June 30, succeeds in doing just that. The exhibition, co-organized by Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) and Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation and presented as part of Abu Dhabi Festival 2025, is a thoughtfully curated show of works by some of the best-known modern and contemporary Korean artists today, flown nearly 7,000 kilometers and assembled in a new way. The exhibition's co-curators, SeMa curator Yeo Kyung-hwan and UK-based curator Maya El Khalil, have created a narrative that is both fresh and thought-provoking. The Abu Dhabi exhibition is inspired by the SeMA exhibition 'At the End of the World Split Endlessly,' curated by Yeo, which revisited modern and contemporary Korean works in the city museum's collection last year. For "Layered Medium," the co-curators added several works that were not in the Seoul exhibition with the aim of easing visitors into Korea's modern and contemporary art. The new arrangement of the works and the scenography by Formafantasma, a Milan- and Rotterdam-based design studio, enrich the exhibition experience for those newly introduced to the works and perhaps even more so for those already familiar with them. The exhibition, whose title borrows from a statement by video art pioneer Paik Nam-june, opens with the artist's 'Self-Portrait Dharma Wheel' (1998) and an archive table showing how artistic innovations of the 1960s and 1970s occurred alongside Korea's economic and political developments, and how Korea's growing connection to a wider world shapes artistic practice today. Also shown in this first section, 'Open(ing) Circuits,' is Paik's 'Moon is the Oldest TV' (1965-1976) that links looking at the moon, an ancient practice, to contemporary screen-watching. Works by Kim Ku-lim, one of the first Korean artists to utilize electricity and light in challenging artistic conventions, are another important addition to the exhibition, giving a fuller account of the development of modern and contemporary art of Korea. A piece notable for the absence of the body, 'Method of Drawing' by Lee Kun-young, marks the start of the next section, 'Body as Medium.' The body is used as the medium, the paintings display the movements, and the negative space created results in an unintended figurative image, the artist said of the series begun in 1976. Lee Bul's 2006 work, 'Untitled (Crystal Figure),' gets a space of its own where 'feminine' materials such as crystals sparkle as they outline a female form, questioning how female bodies have been represented and understood. The question of how contexts influence cultural translation is the subject of 'Society as Medium' section. 'Under the Sky of Happiness' (2013) by Hong Young-in draws many young women visitors, according to a docent, who discover several historical women figures for the first time. Depicting Korean women hailed for being the 'first woman' in their respective fields, the work brings to the fore the marginalized history of women through embroidery, a practice that is often associated with low-wage labor. Background knowledge of the work — it reimagines a 1974 film about Korean laborers stranded in Sakhalin after World War II, replacing the male protagonists with female pioneers — is not necessary to appreciate the modern history of women in Korea. Three video works by Jun So-jung — 'Early Arrival of Future' (2015), 'Eclipse' (2020) and 'Green Screen' (2021) — explore the state of division of the Korean Peninsula. 'Early Arrival of Future' depicts two pianists, one a North Korean defector and the other a South Korean, as they collaborate in performing popular works from the two countries divided by the Demilitarized Zone. 'Eclipse,' meanwhile, juxtaposes the North Korean version of the ancient 12-string Korean instrument gayageum and the harp, an ancient Western instrument. The 21-string North Korean gayageum was created so that it may be used to perform Western music. The irony of the primordial forests of the Demilitarized Zone, the most heavily fortified border in the world, will not be lost on those watching "Green Screen.' An installation that may not be easily understood by non-Korean audiences is Bahc Yi-so's 'The UN Tower' (1997). An addition to the Abu Dhabi exhibition, the installation reconstructs the pedestal of a nonexistent monument — an image familiar to the Korean audience who have seen it on matchboxes once ubiquitous in Korean homes. 'We included this work because it articulates the impossibility of true cultural translation,' El Khalil says in the curatorial statement. While some works may be impossible to translate across different cultural contexts, on display in the last section "Space as Medium," Yang Hae-gue's 'Yes-I=Know-Screen' (2007), a set of 10 wood screens with wooden lattices that challenges boundaries between artworks, inside and outside, has resonated with the audiences here. Visitors often comment on the similarities between the lattice patterns and patterns found in Islamic art, said ADMAF Executive Director Michel Gemayel. The experience of attempting to extract similarities in the unfamiliar is a universal one. The exhibition ends on a positive note for cross-cultural translation and comprehension. The last work in the exhibition, 'Dancing Ladders' (2022) by Kwon Byung-jun, has visitors linger in front of the slow-moving inverted robotic ladders. The feeling of being stuck in the arduous condition the work depicts and elicits in viewers is a sentiment easily shared by people everywhere living in today's hyperconnected, globalized world.
Korea Herald
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
'Open Circuits' in Abu Dhabi explores curatorial collaboration
The exhibition 'Layered Medium: We Are In Open Circuits' runs through Monday Collaborating on an exhibition sometimes poses challenges, as it requires constant communication and research until the curators succeed in drawing a visual narrative together. The metaphor 'open circuits' in the exhibition 'Layered Medium: We Are in Open Circuits' embodies not only the content of the exhibition itself but the process of co-curation. The exhibition, which is on view at Manarat Al Saadiyat in Abu Dhabi, is the first-ever exhibition in the Middle East to comprehensively show Korean art spanning from the 1960s to the present. It was co-curated by UK-based independent curator Maya El Khalil and Yeo Kyung-hwan of the Seoul Museum of Art. 'Creating a meaningful dialogue between curators from two countries required considerable time -- it took over a year and a half for us to evolve our genuine dialogue between perspectives and visions into the exhibition,' El Khalil said in a recent interview with The Korea Herald. The collaborative process itself mirrored the exhibition's central concept of "open circuits,' she said. Inspired by a 1965 statement by Korean-born video art founder Paik Nam-june that says, 'we are in open circuits,' the exhibition shows how Korean contemporary art can be interpreted in different contexts depending on the viewers, curators and the region. 'We focused on how artists have used shifts in artistic mediums to reflect on the changes that happened to them, and how they used art, new technology and innovations across media and form to process and synthesize those changes. 'Visitors appreciate that these aren't just Korean stories, but shared contemporary experiences,' El Khalil said. Yeo said working with El Khalil triggered a change in perspectives for co-curation, which she had considered 'almost impossible.' The exhibition in Abu Dhabi evolved from an exhibition in Seoul held last year, titled 'SeMA Omnibus: At the End of the World Split Endlessly," which reexamined the museum's collection. 'The original concept and exhibition were renewed and revisited for our current exhibition as a result of my co-curation with Maya El Khalil,' Yeo said. 'The exhibition is a form of storytelling, highlighting how different generations of artists responded to key moments in Korea's political and cultural history. 'By framing this in a non-linear, conceptual way, we offer audiences in Abu Dhabi a deeper understanding of how Korean avant-garde art was shaped by and continues to shape larger global narratives,' she said. Forty-eight works in the exhibition include those by artists who have recently garnered global attention -- such as Lee Bul, Yang Hae-gue, Lee Kun-yong, Chung Seo-young and Kang Seok-yeong -- demonstrating how Korean contemporary art has continuously renewed itself in a changing world. 'This mirrors the dynamic cultural identity of Abu Dhabi, where the traditions of the past and the drive for innovation coexist, highlighting that we are standing within an open circuit,' Yeo added. A companion exhibition, 'Intense Proximities,' will take place in December at Seoul Museum of Art, featuring a collection from Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation, the co-organizer of the Abu Dhabi exhibition along with SeMA, as well as other significant works by UAE-based practitioners. 'For the past decade, the focus of the Seoul Museum of Art's international exchanges has primarily been with non-Western regions, such as Asia, the Middle East and South America. We are no longer concerned with following the Western art flow or its historical canon,' Yeo said. She continued: 'Rather, our focus lies in the recognition of art as one of many diverse branches, with increasing attention to the historical and cultural 'glocal' context that shapes each region's unique identity.' El Khalil suggests art serves as a 'crucial interface' for processing and relating to the changing world on different scales, and as a curator, she believes she creates frameworks that allow audiences to encounter shared experiences. 'It's about dialogue and opening circuits of meaning rather than simply presenting objects or delivering predetermined messages,' she said of her curatorial philosophy. 'In our increasingly complex world, fraught with technological, social, geopolitical and urban change, art shows us that we're not passive observers but always active participants creating meaning and connection,' she added.
CairoScene
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CairoScene
This Mind-Bending Exhibition Will Teleport You from Abu Dhabi to Seoul
Robots, weird machines, and enough sci-fi to make your brain do a backflip—this one's for those who like their art with a side of magic. If your summer travel plans happen to include a cultural adventure through Abu Dhabi (and seriously, they should), you might want to get ready for a little teleportation magic. Right on Saadiyat Island—a buzzing cultural hub with pristine beaches, luxury resorts, and some of the region's most iconic museums—a cross-country portal has just opened, and if you venture through, you'll find yourself face to face with the wild, shimmering world of Korean contemporary art. Inside Manarat Al Saadiyat, the island's coolest art space, the mind-bending exhibition 'Layered Medium: We Are in Open Circuits' is a full-on conceptual voyage through Korea's artistic evolution, told by the very creators who pushed the boundaries of what art can be. Curated by Kyung-hwan Yeo of Seoul Museum of Art and Maya El Khalil of the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation—the two institutions co-organizing the show—'Layered Medium' pulses with poetic robots, glitched-out memories, kinetic sculptures, speculative cities, and video pieces that feel like time machines. At the center of this buzzing creative circuit is Nam June Paik—the legendary godfather of video art whose works feel like a playful mashup of sci-fi, philosophy, and good old-fashioned mischief. Alongside him, you'll find some of Korea's most iconic and imaginative voices, like: Yunchul Kim, whose intricate kinetic machines are so alive they might just start humming along as you watch, and Park Hyun-Ki, a pioneer who danced along the blurry line between technology and metaphysics. And because this is Abu Dhabi—a city that never does things halfway—the exhibition is more than just what's on the walls. A rich programme of talks, performances, and screenings runs throughout the season, inviting deeper dialogue on everything from technology and identity to memory, migration, and modernity. There's even a bilingual publication, 'Layered Dialogues', that maps the shared ideas, rhythms, and visions between Korea and Abu Dhabi. On view until June 30th, 2025 (and yes, it's totally free!), this is your chance to jump off the usual tourist trail and dive headfirst into Korea's wildest creative playground—all without leaving Abu Dhabi.
The National
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Abu Dhabi presents thought-provoking showcase of contemporary South Korean art
The mid-20th century was a time of seismic change in Korea. After its liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945, the peninsula was divided into North and South, setting the stage for the Korean War, a devastating conflict that took place between 1950 and 1953, ending not in peace, but ceasefire. South Korea came out in shambles, soon entering a period of military dictatorship, industrialisation and strict censorship. It was in this politically charged, socially repressive environment that a generation of avant-garde artists emerged. Their work rejected traditional aesthetics and state-sanctioned art, embracing experimentation, performance and provocation. The exhibition at Manarat Al Saadiyat, titled Layered Medium: We are in Open Circuits, kicks off from this period, showcasing the beginnings of the avant-garde contemporary art movement in South Korea and charts its development to the present. It is the first major showcase of Korean contemporary art in the Gulf region and comes as the inaugural project of a three-year collaboration between the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation (Admaf) and the Seoul Museum of Art (Sema). It has been co-curated by Maya El Khalil and Kyung-hwan Yeo. 'We thought about how we could genuinely work together, rather than simply transfer,' El Khalil says. 'This is not an exhibition that is travelling. That's not the idea at all. It was inspired by an exhibition that Kyung-hwan curated at Sema, but we worked together to completely reconfigure the exhibition [for the local context].' Layered Medium brings together works by more than two dozen South Korean artists, from pioneers including Nam June Paik and Park Hyunki to renowned contemporary figures such as Lee Bul, Haegue Yang and Moka Lee. While the exhibition doesn't claim to be a comprehensive survey of contemporary South Korean art, it still presents a healthy breadth of works that show the diversity of practices that have shaped the country's avant-garde scene. 'We wanted to capture the flow and the main core of Korean contemporary art for the audience in Abu Dhabi,' Kyung-hwan says. Aware that Layered Medium is, for many in the UAE capital, a first encounter with the country's contemporary art scene, the curators set the stage with a historical overview spanning from the mid-20th century to today. This introduction underscores a central premise: contemporary South Korean art has developed in tandem with both political transformation and technological innovation. Paik's Self-Portrait Dharma Wheel opens Layered Medium and stands out as a major work from the artist's later career. It features five CRT screens arranged on wheels within a sculptural installation. The dizzying set of images that touch upon Buddhist motifs reflects on themes of spirituality and transformation. The 1998 work was created after Paik suffered a stroke, and has an added undertone. It was important to begin with Paik's work, Kyung-hwan says, because of the artist's towering legacy on the avant-garde contemporary art scene. His influence was not limited to the borders of South Korea, as Paik is widely considered to be a forerunner of the video art movement as a whole. On the other side of the exhibition wall is a work by another pioneering video artist. Park's 1979 Video Inclining Water is a key example of how he reflected on technology with natural elements and physical interventions. The work was performed initially at the 15th Bienal de Sao Paulo before being exhibited in South Korea as a series of colour photographs, which are being displayed in Layered Medium. The performance features Park tilting a CRT television, giving the impression that the water on the screen was shifting. Along with Kim Kulim's seminal 1969 work Space Structure 69 – which features vinyl tubes filled with water and oil and lit by coloured fluorescent lights – as well as Paik's 1996 work Moon is the Oldest TV, which presents magnets within a set CRT televisions to create lunar phases, the exhibition showcases early examples of how South Korean artists explored how technology tested the nature of human perception. The assembly of opening works also makes clear from the beginning that the curators were not interested in simply presenting the 48 works in the exhibition chronologically. Rather, they coaxed out thematic threads between, elegantly segmenting the exhibition across three layers: body as a medium, society as a medium and space as a medium. 'The medium has two main meanings here,' El Khalil says. 'It's how we experience and relate to the world. Artists also tackle fundamental questions of media with the works, showing how media does not only refer to its technical meaning, but also thematic lenses through which to look at society, policies and history.' While the opening segment considers perception as one aspect of the body, other artists examine a broader range of physical and bodily experiences. A 2007 acrylic work from Lee Kun-Young's The Method of Drawing explores traces of bodily movements. Hyejoo Jun draws comparisons between our studies of nature and our pursuit of survival in The Birth of a New Flower (2023-2024). Hong Seung-Hye reflects on death and mourning through digital avatars in Ghost (2016), whereas Min Oh highlights the human voice as a musical instrument that can prompt transformation in Etude for Etude (2018). Another highlight is a 2006 work by Lee Bul. Untitled (Crystal Figure) presents an outline of a woman's head and body manifested by transparent beads. An overhead light casts mesmerising, glittering patterns on the floor below. The work takes cues from the illustrations of 16th-century Flemish anatomist Andreas Vesalius and is less interested in a clinical rendering of the female form than a spiritual and even spectral one, drawing a statement to the systemic overlooking of women's contribution and influence in history. Society as a medium is the second layer that the exhibition examines. The section opens vividly with a pair of cotton-embroidered works by Young in Hong. Still Life Parade (2015) is based on a children's parade from 1970. Her use of embroidery as opposed to a photographic medium is an attempt, as the exhibition explains, 'to fossilise history' and prompt new ways of thinking about memory and material beyond direct experience. Under the Sky of Happiness (2013), meanwhile, takes inspiration from the 1974 film Under the Sky of Sakhalin, examining its premise about Korean labourers strander after Second World War from a feminist point of view, replacing the male protagonists with pioneering Korean women such as the poet, journalist and painter Na Hye-sok. Three video pieces by Sojung Jun, meanwhile, reflect on Korea's divided present while also presenting music as a mode of dialogue and reconciliation. Hayoun Kwon, on the other hand, presents 1920s colonial-era Seoul through VR. Finally, the exhibition presents the concept of space as a medium in itself. Three works bare the section's theme. Minouk Lim's video performance S. O. S-Adoptive Dissensus (2009), featuring staged scenes across Seoul's urban landscape, juxtaposed with Haegue Yang's Yes-I-Know-Screen (2007), a set of ten traditional South Korean doors fashioned as folding screens, and two works from Ram Han's vibrant digital painting series Room (2018) that shows hotel spaces in a bold and dreamlike palette of colours. The trio of works smartly underscores demarcations between the public and the private spheres, and how built environments are shaped by social relations as well as economic and political factors. This section also has the most innovative application of technology within art. In Forest of Subtle Truth 2 (2018), Byungjun Kwon employs a Local Position System (LPS) that plays recordings through headphones depending on where the viewer is within a space. The sounds are of various songs sung by Yemeni refugees, who escaped the war to seek shelter in South Korea. Kwon also presents another technologically interesting work at the tail end of the exhibition. Dancing Ladders features foldable ladders – symbols of ascent – that have been affixed to robotic technology and tracks. However, by using 3D printing technology to make the works, as well as open-source software, to make a statement about the democratisation and accessibility of art and technology. Overall, Layered Medium offers a thought-provoking entry point into the avant-garde landscape of contemporary art from South Korea. It exhibits a breadth of approach and subject, as well as a ceaseless desire for innovation and material reflection. The exhibition also implicitly underscores a thoughtful way of curating cross-cultural exhibitions – to show how research and mindfulness is essential in making the most of these exchanges. 'I wanted to show our collection, this avant-garde contemporaneity but in a global context,' Kyung-hwan, who is a curator at Sema, says. 'We struggled with the notion that, how can we escape typical notions of cultural exchange. We had to approach it differently with research trips, artist residencies and collection researches. This is, after all, a three-year-long project, a long-term institutional collaboration.' Layered Medium: We are in Open Circuits runs until June 30 at Manarat Al Saadiyat
Arab News
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Arab News
Landmark exhibition ‘Layered Medium' brings six decades of Korean art to the GCC
DUBAI: The first large-scale showcase of contemporary Korean art in the Gulf Cooperation Council region, 'Layered Medium: We Are in Open Circuits – Contemporary Art from Korea, 1960s to Today,' promises to be a transformative experience for audiences in the Middle East. Co-curated by Maya El-Khalil of the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation and Yeo Kyung-hwan of the Seoul Museum of Art, the exhibition brings together a sweeping collection of artworks that explore the evolution of Korean contemporary art from its roots in the 1960s to the present day. Held at the Abu Dhabi art gallery Manarat Al-Saadiyat from May 16 to June 30, the exhibition marks a historic cultural bridge between Korea and the region, offering insights into how Korean artists have responded to shifts in political landscapes, technological advancements, and the complexities of modernity. Ayoung Kim, Still image from Delivery Dancer's Sphere, 2022, single-channel video, 25 min. (Courtesy of the artist) 'This exhibition is a testament to the power of art to transcend boundaries and ignite conversations across cultures,' said El-Khalil to Arab News. 'It's an opportunity for audiences to witness the dynamism and resilience of Korean art over decades of transformation.' El-Khalil drew on her first experiences in Seoul, which she described as a 'moment of discovery.' For her, the city revealed what she called 'productive contradictions': an art scene that was deeply specific to its context but spoke to universal experiences of urbanization, globalization, and technological change. 'This tension between specificity and universality became central to our curatorial approach. Rather than trying to explain Korean art, we wanted to create frameworks that would allow audiences to encounter works through shared experiences of inhabiting our rapidly shifting, technologically mediated worlds,' El-Khalil said. Ayoung Kim, Installation view of Delivery Dancer's Sphere (2022) from the exhibition "What an Artificial World (National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Cheongju, Korea, 2024)." (National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Photography Hong Choelki) The exhibition begins with the immediate sensory experiences of the body, intersecting with social constructs of gender, nationality, and identity. From there it connects to cultural narratives of history and tradition before engaging with contemporary spatial realities of rapid urbanisation and precarious ecologies. It begins with its experimental phases in the 1960s, moving through the politically charged works of the 1980s, and culminating in the boundary pushing digital and multimedia explorations of today. Yeo explained the curatorial decision. 'We experience reality through our bodies, our social structures, and our physical and virtual terrains. By organizing the exhibition through this expanded sense of medium — as atmospheres of meaning-making — we created a framework that reflects circuits of experience: from our immediate bodily presence to our social relationships, to our navigation of built environments striated with power and control.' Byungjun Kwon, Dancing Ladders, credit MMCA (2). (Supplied) Among the standout works are installations that challenge conventional perceptions of space and time, multimedia projects that intertwine Korean folklore with digital storytelling, and large-scale sculptures that articulate the tension between tradition and innovation. El-Khalil spoke of parallels between Seoul and Abu Dhabi, citing rapid urbanization and globalization as shared narratives. 'Both cities are the product of rapid, accelerated development, each environment a remarkable narrative of transformation, though the stories are quite distinct: South Korea emerging after war and poverty, while the UAE grew quickly thanks to a clear vision and the discovery of natural resources,' she said. 'What's really interesting is how artists in both places respond to similar changes like urbanisation or globalisation but from different cultural perspectives. Even though these changes seem global, they're always shaped by local histories and ideas about the future. For example, Sung Hwan Kim's 'Temper Clay' (2012), set in uniform apartment blocks, looks at the emotional and social impact of this kind of growth. These parallels allowed us to explore how different societies process similar transformations through different historical and cultural frameworks,' she added. Ram Han, Room type 01, 2018. (Collection of Seoul Museum of Art) The exhibition also highlights the impact of technological revolutions on Korean art, particularly in the realm of video and digital installations that emerged in the late 1990s. 'Korean artists have always been at the forefront of exploring new media, often using technology as a medium to dissect cultural narratives and global dialogues,' said Yeo. 'Their work is a testament to adaptability and forward-thinking—an open circuit that is constantly evolving.' In addition to the main exhibition, 'Layered Medium' features a series of panel discussions, workshops, and interactive installations aimed at engaging the community in dialogue about the role of contemporary art in shaping cultural identity and understanding. El-Khalil emphasized the importance of these community-focused initiatives: 'We want this exhibition to be more than just a visual experience; it's a platform for learning and cross-cultural exchange.' As the first large-scale Korean art exhibition in the GCC, 'Layered Medium' is poised to set a new standard for artistic collaboration between Korea and the Middle East. With its emphasis on dialogue, innovation, and historical reflection, the exhibition not only showcases the richness of Korean artistic expression but also reinforces the universal language of art as a bridge across diverse cultures. 'Ultimately, our hope is that visitors leave with a deeper appreciation for the complexity and beauty of Korean contemporary art,' said Yeo. 'It's about creating connections—not just between East and West, but across generations, mediums, and ideologies.'
