Italian 20th-21st Century Art in Seoul: Exhibition “The Grand Italian Vision: The Farnesina Collection”.. and More
Art Sonje Center
Italian 20th-21st Century Art in Seoul: Exhibition “The Grand Italian Vision: The Farnesina Collection”
From July 15 to August 20, Art Sonje Center will present the exhibition The Grand Italian Vision: The Farnesina Collection. The exhibition features more than 70 works from the ‘Farnesina Collection’, the art collection of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
Co-organized by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Embassy of Italy in Seoul, the Italian Cultural Institute in Seoul, and Art Sonje Center, the exhibition presents 20th – 21st century works by 66 artists, including Umberto Boccioni, Piero Manzoni, and Michelangelo Pistoleto. With themes of ‘change’ and ‘memory’, the exhibition illuminates major movements in Italian art. It is comprised of Futurism, Metaphysical Art, Informal, Pop Art and Kinetic Art, Conceptual, Arte Povera, Transavantgarde, and Digital Art. Also, contemporary issues, such as the environment, immigration, and poverty, will be explored to reveal the diverse visions of Italian art. The exhibition is curated by art critic and curator Achille Bonito Oliva (b. 1939). He is an important critic and curator who was leading the Italian ‘Transavantgarde’ movement of the 1970s and 80s. To celebrate the exhibition, Bonito Oliva will give a talk on Saturday, July 15 at 2 p.m.
The exhibition will offer a rare opportunity to view the currents of Italian art at a glance.
Space K
Zadie Xa’s First Solo Exhibition in Korea, “Nine Tailed Tall Tales: Trickster, Mongrel, Beast”, tells the Story of the Other through Korean folklore
Zadie Xa’s (b. 1983) first solo exhibition in Korea, Nine Tailed Tall Tales: Trickster, Mongrel, Beast, will be on view at Space K from July 13 to October 12.
Zadie Xa is Korean-Canadian artist whose work focuses on hybrid identity and otherness. To do so, she draws on traditional Korean shamanism, which is led by women, referencing traditional tales such as Princess Bari and Grandmother Mago.
In this exhibition, the exhibition spaces are divided into three rooms, each set up in a different dimension. The 33 works on display feature characters from traditional tales. The artist recontextualizes marginalized beings such as nine-tailed foxes, crows, and other animals by bringing them to the fore. In the sculpture <The Guide and her Beast> displayed in the first space, an old woman dressed in colorful costumes rides a decorated beast. Inspired by traditional folklore where old women are not viewed negatively, she reimagines older women through figures such as Grandmother Mago.
Through Zadie Xa’s work, the exhibition examines Korean folklore as a way of dealing with otherness and hybridity.
Coreana Museum of Art
Speaking in the Way of AI: Bokyung Jun’s performance “Either arms, feet, or tongue”
On July 14, 16, 21, and 22, the Coreana Museum of Art will showcase the performance Either arms, feet, or tongue by artist Bokyung Jun (b. 1979).
Either arms, feet, or tongue is one of the artworks of the c-lab project at the Coreana Museum of Art. C-lab project is an annual program that brings together creators, curators, theorists, and researchers to explore a selected theme through research, exhibition, education, and archiving. C-lab 7.0, which will take place in 2023, will interrogate the role and necessity of the ‘Media-Body’ in a society with emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual environments.
Through her video and installation works, the artist Bokyung Jun focuses on the convergence and divergence between humans and technology. In this performance, she examines the relationship between human language and the language derived from AI. The performance consists of randomly selecting words written by the audience before entering the space, and then performing the sentences combined by an AI. The performers perform the sentences, using the AI’s cognitive methods of breaking down language into smaller units or spatializing language. Through this process, the performance attempts to consider and experiment with ‘our body’ instead of a body that belongs to an individual.
Either arms, feet, or tongue presents bodies that understand language in a new way and use it to communicate, evoking an experience that goes beyond familiar linguistic conventions.
