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[What to see] From conceptual to video art -- must-see exhibitions in December

By Park Yuna

Published : Dec. 7, 2024 - 16:01

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An installation view of An installation view of "Rocks, Smoke and Pianos" at Kukje Gallery (Park Yuna/The Korea Herald)

If you are looking for exhibitions to visit this winter to spend time indoors in the cold weather, here is a roundup of shows that are worth your visit in Samcheong-dong, Hannam-dong and Pyeongchang-dong, Seoul.

On view are two exhibitions of video art pioneer Bill Viola and Korean popular painter Park Jina at Kukje Gallery, Chun Kwang-young's hanji installation at Gana Art Center and Lawrence Weiner's conceptual art at Pace Gallery.

Bill Viola, Park Jina at Kukje Gallery

"Moving Stillness: Mount Rainier 1979" by Bill Viola is on display at Kukje Gallery in Seoul (Courtesy of Bill Viola Studio)

Kukje Gallery’s two exhibitions offer a chance to think about flow of time through different art media – video art and paintings. American video artist Bill Viola’s exhibition “Moving Stillness” marks the fourth exhibition and first one at the gallery after the artist died in July.

Anchoring Viola’s exhibition is “Moving Stillness: Mount Rainier 1979,” installed in exhibition hall K3, which depicts the mountain being reflected in a pool of water via a rear projection screen, causing the image of Mount Rainier to be dependent on the state of the water’s surface.

Another exhibition is painter Park Jina’s solo show “Rocks, Smoke and Pianos” at exhibition halls K2 and Hanok at the gallery. Park showcases 36 new works using oil and watercolor that explore site-specific locations including a museum exhibition hall, a restaurant kitchen and a piano factory.

Park uses photography as the basis of her painting practice, reconstructing scenes captured through her camera. A couple of paintings are put side by side, depicting the same scene, yet at different times. The two exhibitions run through Jan. 26, 2025.

An installation view of An installation view of "Aggregations: Resonance, In-between" at Gana Art Center (Courtesy of Gana Art Center)

Chun Kwang-young at Gana Art Center

Chun Kwang-young, who has pursued his art with hanji, or traditional Korean mulberry bark paper, for decades, has opened the first exhibition in six years in his home country at Gana Art Center. The exhibition “Aggregations: Resonance, In-between” shows a comprehensive collection of works, including early abstract paintings, the "Light" series and variations of his signature "Aggregation" series to trace the evolution of the artist’s work.

The artist wraps thousands of triangular pieces of Styrofoam in hanji, which are then bound with twisted paper strings and densely arranged on a wooden panel or created into installation work. His work was inspired by childhood memories of traditional Korean herbal medicine shops and the cultural practice of wrapping objects with cloth, according to the gallery.

Chun’s art was featured at the 59th Venice Biennale official collateral exhibition “Times Reimagined” in 2022. The exhibition at Gana Art Center opened Wednesday and runs until Feb. 2, 2025.

An installation view of An installation view of "Lawrence Weiner: ANYTHING ADDED TO SOMETHING" at Pace Gallery in Seoul (Courtesy of Pace Gallery)

Lawrence Weiner at Pace Gallery

Pace Gallery in Seoul is presenting the first major exhibition of American conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner, bringing together sculptures created by the artist from 1989 to 2019. The exhibition follows the artist’s survey exhibition at Amorepacific Museum of Art, “Under the Sun,” last year.

As the pioneering figure in the international conceptual art scene of the 1960s, he merged words and material in an act of performance to create his work, which developed over the years to include graphic elements and gestures in his signature style.

A quote from the artist, “Anything that exists has a certain space around it; even an idea occupies space,” occupies the second floor of the gallery -- viewers will be confronted by the scale of the work as well as the social, economic and environmental implications of anything added to something. The exhibition runs through Dec. 28.