Peek inside a Korean condo on this new design exhibition

Up a hill and tucked behind the intersection of two main thoroughfares in Seoul’s Hannam-dong stands a residence that housed the Romanian ambassador to South Korea. Like so many particular locations, from the outside, the ecru concrete and steel storage gate stays vague and blends into this residential quarter. Nonetheless, this week throughout Seoul Artwork Week, long-time pals gyopo design darling Jillian Choi and Seoul-based inside designer Hye-Jin Ris Kim teamed as much as do one thing fairly novel for the South Korean capital: flip this Romanian residence into a house gallery showcase of the numerous faces of Korean creativity proper now.

Choi had been having considerate conversations with Hye-Jin Kim and their pals, and PARKIM founders, Sandy Park and John Kim, concerning the notion and reception of present Korean artwork and design, and ‘we thought, there’s a giant need to carry artists over there [to the US]. And the way can we even have one thing like Koreans displaying Korean work, or [showing] how Koreans dwell in a Korean residence. We have been saying that we by no means see Korean designers in Korean houses,’ explains Choi.

So the group determined to search for an exhibition area, or a pop-up on a industrial avenue. They secured one, after which a month in the past, it fell by way of. Hye-Jin had an concept. Why not supply up her 1985 Hannam home, in a diplomatic gesture echoing the actions of area’s former occupants? Staging an interdisciplinary artwork and design showcase in a house isn’t a brand new idea, notably in locations like New York and Paris, the place each Choi and Hye-Jin made their names. Choi was the Director of International Exhibitions for Design Miami and Director of Collective Design, whereas Hye-Jin lower her chops with India Mahdavi.

Nonetheless, in Seoul, it’s not customary to open one’s residence to strangers, which in impact is what an condo gallery is. As Choi provides, ‘The Koreans who’ve come by way of have been saying that they’ve by no means seen something like this. Once we thought of this idea, we requested, what occurs behind closed doorways when individuals aren’t wanting and likewise outdoors of the expectations of society, and, a world society?’

And so, the exhibition ‘Behind Closed Doorways’ was born from this group of pals pulling collectively a listing of 24 Korean artists and designers – a lot of them shut pals (sensing a theme right here?) – who both dwell in Korea or are a part of the diaspora and returned to Korea, or who’ve lived/labored each inside and in another country (a quite common expertise for each the 1.5 and MZ Generations).

The grouping contains identified names within the West like Kwangho Lee (a Salon 94 Design artist), Se Oh (rep’d by Tang Cont), Jesse Chun (on Commonwealth and Council’s roster) and Casper Kang (previously of Studio Concrete), in addition to homegrown stalwarts like conceptual artist Seung Neung Kyung (represented by Hyundai Gallery) and Web-famous cat-obsessed Taewon Ahn.

Choi provides that the exhibition, ‘is on the intersection of artwork and design, and the blurring of the traces is one thing that these artists are exploring as effectively.’ Lots of the works appear like sculpture however are the truth is practical, akin to Hakmin Lee’s aluminum seating items or Seongil Choi’s ‘Mirror Blocks Stool,’ or look practical however are an artwork work, like Yerin Park’s carved porcelains that appear like vases however are usually not, or Heakyoung Jang’s resin-marble ‘Materials Notes’ sequence that may very well be seen as constructing blocks.

‘We do not have to be confined by these labels,’ says Choi, to which Hye-Jin provides, ‘There’s one thing extra to being Korean, extra multi-cultural, than individuals count on. We regularly are obligated to be Korean in a sure method, however we needed to discover outdoors of that.