23 APR — 27 NOV 2022 PRESS RELEASE

KOREAN PAVILION
INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION

The Korean Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia presents Gyre,
a series of five large-scale kinetic installations and a site-specific wall drawing by artist Yunchul Kim.
Embodying a sprawl of things that flow and flare, these events of dynamic entanglement awaken our
senses to the continuous cycle of beginnings and endings.

Let nothing be changed and all be different – Robert Bresson

There is and shall be no dominant entity or single entry

Boundaries swell and blur. Kim’s ‘pataphysical’ installations of nameless objects and materials reso-
nate with not only the (in)visible paradigm shifts of our present time but the bodily universe in the con-
stant (re)making. Many suns and scattering dusts in mattereal communication with slow swirls at the
edge of the seas spiral and settle on their own while singing through our bodies.

This exhibition that reflects Kim’s transdisciplinary practice spanning art, literature, mythology, philoso-
phy and science, invites visitors on a journey into the world as a labyrinth of materials unfolding around
three themes, all knotted together: The Swollen Suns, The Path of Gods and The Great Outdoors.

‘The Swollen Suns’ references the swelling and scattering of the sun at the end of its life and the emer-
gence of new planets from the Sun’s debris as a lens through which to view present reality; where all
things disperse and come together, illuminating the world anew. ‘The Path of Gods’ comes from the
traditional Chinese characters (신경神經), literally translated as “divine pathways”. In East Asian imagery,
the human body is seen as a universe where it functions as a connector between heaven and earth. The
Korean Pavilion is rematerialising as a living body through which the artworks flow like blood vessels
and intertwine like nerves. ‘The Great Outdoors’ presents the remnants and symptoms of the world
lingering beyond any possible forms of perception.

Works List

The site-specific drawing Gyre (2022) is an illustration of the ‘world as a labyrinth’ through the ‘world
of materials’. Away from “meanings’’ and “values”, all things are intra-acting, each with respect (격格) to
itself. The remnants of matter, time, objects, beings, even the artist become ubiquitous. There are ref-
erences to the blueprint of the installations, mathematical calculations, cascades of matter, ritualistic
vestiges, mythological symbols, swirls of nameless fluids and symptoms of cosmic events.

The monumental installation Argos – the Swollen Suns (2022) consists of hundreds of glass tubes that
flash with light as it detects muon particles, making this imperceptible matter visible. Once detected, it
scatters signals and triggers the movement of the fifty-metre-long kinetic piece Chroma V (2022).

In the centre of the pavilion, Chroma V pulsates and breathes as it receives signals from Argos – The
Swollen Suns. This serpentine sculpture links all the artworks and the surrounding spaces together,
resembling the central nerves connecting different parts of the body.

La Poussière de Soleils (2022), a nod to French poet Raymond Roussel’s play ‘La Poussière de Soleils
(The Dust of Suns)’, is a living sculpture that merges the artificial and natural. Made of vermiculite, this
novel material created by Kim shows a kaleidoscope of colours that is only visible through specially
fabricated lenses. Discreetly connected to devices, microcomputers and software, the installation con-
trols the wavelength and conviction of light in relation to its own density.

An adaptation of an existing work, Impulse (2018) pumps seawater sourced from Venice through hun-
dreds of intertwined tubes surrounding the sculpture, connecting the pavilion to the world of materials
beyond the exhibition.

In Flare (2014), two different transparent liquids with different properties and specific densities, which

www.korean-pavilion.or.kr
KOREAN PAVILION 2022 koreanpavilion2022@gmail.com
 23 APR — 27 NOV 2022 PRESS RELEASE
KOREAN PAVILION
INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION

remain immiscible, are sealed. As the surfaces of those liquids are coated with hydrophilic materials,
the solution gleams like metal. Connected to three motors, the rods rotate and the silvery flare solution
swirls like “a wet flame” (Novalis).

The Korean Pavilion is commissioned by Arts Council Korea, in partnership with Hyundai Motor Com-
pany. An accompanying catalogue for the exhibition is due to launch in September 2022.

Notes to Editors

Yunchul Kim, Gyre

Date: 23rd April – 27th November 2022

(Please check the main Biennale website for updated opening times for Giardini)

Address: Korean Pavilion, Giardini della Biennale, C. Giazzo, 30122 Venezia VE, Italy

Press Preview: 20th April, 12pm

Opening Reception: 20th April, 4:30pm

International press contact:

Carlotta Dennis-Lovaglio, Scott & Co

Carlotta@scott-andco.com, 020 3487 0077 (UK Office)

For further press details see here.

For latest news on the commission: http://www.korean-pavilion.or.kr/
Follow updates on @korean_pavilion via Instagram

About the artist

Yunchul Kim (b. 1970, South Korea) is an artist and an electroacoustic music composer whose practice
focuses on the artistic potential and the reality of matter through installation, drawings, writing, and
music. Informed by his transdisciplinary research combining philosophy, chemistry, physics, mathe-
matics, cosmology, anthropology and mythology, he considers the complex entanglement of beings
between human, non-human and things by examining the ‘world of materials’. He led the research
group Mattereality at the Korea Institute for Advanced Study. He was a member of the artistic research
project group Liquid Things at University of Applied Arts Vienna, and the art and science project team
Fluid Skies. He is the winner of the 2016 Collide International Award at CERN, and has been awarded by
VIDA 15.0, Arts Electronica and Transmediale. In 2014, he founded Studio Locus Solus in Seoul. His re-
cent presentations include Yokohama Triennale, Japan (2020); KUMU, Estonia (2020); National Taiwan
Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan (2020); iMAL, Belgium (2020); CCCB, Spain (2019); and ZKM, Germany
(2018).
www.yunchulkim.net, @studio_locus_solus

About the curator

Young-chul Lee (b.1957, South Korea) is a curator, an art critic, an expert in urban public design, and was
formerly a professor at Kaywon University of Arts and Design, Korea. Lee began his curatorial career
in 1993 with the co-curation of Across the Pacific at the Queens Museum of Art in New York City, Unit-
ed States. He was the first director of the Nam June Paik Art Center, the artistic director of the second
Gwangju Biennale (1997), and the founder of the Anyang Public Art Project (2005). Lee co-curated the
second Busan International Contemporary Art Festival (2000) and was the president of the preparatory
project for the opening and the art director of the Asia Culture Center (2011 - 2015), Korea.

www.korean-pavilion.or.kr
KOREAN PAVILION 2022 koreanpavilion2022@gmail.com
 23 APR — 27 NOV 2022 PRESS RELEASE
KOREAN PAVILION
INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION

About Arts Council Korea

Arts Council Korea (ARKO), the commissioner of the Korean pavilion, has been responsible for the oper-
ation of the pavilion since its opening. ARKO, also known as Arts Council Korea, is an organisation ded-
icated to supporting Korean arts and culture nationally and internationally. It was established with the
aim of making the arts accessible to everyone, based on the belief that art has the power to transform
lives. It promotes and subsidises projects and activities that promote culture and the arts. ARKO, under
the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, advocates for the creation and enjoyment of all forms of art.
https://www.arko.or.kr, @arkokorea

About Hyundai Motor’s Art Projects

Hyundai Motor Company has been supporting art initiatives driven by long-term partnerships with
global museums - the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA), Tate and the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) since 2013, along with major partnerships for the Korean
Pavilion at the 56th, 57th, 58th and 59th Venice Biennale, and the 20th and 21st Biennale of Sydney. The
newly established Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational encourages innovative ways of think-
ing about art and global art histories, and in partnership with global media group Bloomberg, Hyundai
Motor Company connects international audiences with artists exploring the convergence of art and
technology.
artlab.hyundai.com, @hyundai.artlab

Korean Pavilion Team Acknowledgements

Curatorial Team Comissioner

Jungyeon Park, Kahee Jeong, Arts Council Korea
Catherine (Hyun Seo) Chiang
In Partnership with
Editorial Manager Hyundai Motor Company
Kyoo Lee
Programme in Collaboration with
Pavilion Manager Korea Institute for Advanced Study
Eun Jeong Kim
With the Support of
Production Team Barakat Contemporary, Korean Air
Studio Locus Solus
(Manager: Jungyeon Park; Staff: Wi An, Ingyun Supporter In-kind
Bang, Songin Bang, Jangwoo Choi, Gisu Chun, KH Feelux, HWAYO, SELECT, CODEX
Minyoung Jung, Bon Kim, Yeongho Kim, Minji Lee,
Jisan Lee, Earl Park, Jongyoon Ryu, Hocheol Shin)

Architectural Advisor
Kc Architectural Lab

International Press Communication

Scott & Co

Graphic & Website Design

OOST, OKOK Services

Pavilion Bag Design

XLIM

www.korean-pavilion.or.kr
KOREAN PAVILION 2022 koreanpavilion2022@gmail.com