As the Sharp Narrative Fades, A Revealing Map Emerges (Part1): Alternating exhibition of Korea and France

The exhibition commemorates both the 20th anniversary of Gallerychosun, a second-generation enterprise in the Sogyeok-dong district, and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of its predecessor the ‘Chosun Art Gallery’, which held its own international exhibition with French gallery in 1983, on the occasion of its 10th anniversary. The symbolic gesture of another cultural exchange with a French institution, just over 40 years later, marks the legacy of Chosun’s independent voice in the Korean art world and beyond, as well as its continuation into the future, through the development of new relationships with similarly forward-thinking organizations such as Le Wonder.

Conceived in close collaboration, the project aims to reconsider already defined or regulated areas of cultural programming, exploring the roles and meanings of both institutions, their artists, works, and networks, through an episodic venture that approaches exhibition-making as an expanded form of social action, unfolding across two continents and successive calendar years. Over the course of 2024, Gallerychosun will present two group exhibitions of Korean and French artists (‘Part 1’ and ‘Part 2’), to be followed by an exhibition of all eighteen participants at Le Wonder in 2025 (‘Part 3’).

By no means arbitrary, this serial structure serves not only the purpose of the exchange itself, but also to gradually expand the exhibition concept as one revealing of the measures, people, and places involved in realizing any production of this kind, and so the correspondence between art and daily life, existence and virtuality, self and representation. As such, these exhibitions will create a new topology of objects, events, and relationships, the product of both art and the systems that exist to nurture, frame, and render it perceptible: a topology that one cannot wholly perceive or chart, but nevertheless sense implicitly in every encounter. To “map” such conditions is therefore bound to the conditional - to temporarily fix the patterns and trajectories of constantly shifting phenomena as they proceed in time.

‘Part 1’ presents Korean artists Ahn Sanghoon, Min Sunghong, Park Bona, and Woo Minjung, and French artists Araks Sahakyan, Collectif Grapain, Wendie Zahibo, Pablo Réol, and Yan Tomaszewski, while ‘Part 2’ features Korean artists Jeong Jeongju, Yohan Hàn, and Choe Sooryun along with Chinese artist Axl Le (based in Shanghai, represented by Gallery Chosun), and French artists Antonin Hako, Martha-Maria Le Bars, Pierre Pierre Gaignard, Elias Gama, and François Dufeil.

Established in 2004, Gallery Chosun entered the Korean market at the beginning of its recent rapid growth, with a program of resolutely experimental contemporary art. Located in downtown Seoul, neighboring many of the city’s most famous “mega galleries”, Chosun has continued to support cutting-edge and under-recognized Korean artists, and organized many important exhibitions, contributing to the development of Seoul’s burgeoning cultural reputation with its own unique sensibility.

In 2019, the gallery expanded its exhibition spaces to two floors, increasing opportunities for artists with larger, more diverse shows, while remodeling and modernizing the architectural interior into one of the most distinctive spaces of its size in the city, on a scale that has encouraged increasingly complex installations. The current exchange exhibition is an expression of the same ambitious agenda, and the first of various initiatives intended to expand the scope of its activities internationally - in this instance working to forge closer ties between French and Korean contemporary art.

‘Le Wonder’ is a non-profit, independent, artist-run space in north-east Paris which has provided affordable studios, workshops, and exhibition opportunities for talented French artists and creatives since its inception in 2011. Continuing the rich Parisian tradition of communally built, self-organized cultural organizations, ‘Le Wonder’ has also redefined the template, operating more like an art center than an alternative space, with a professional administration representing the interests of all members, while operational decisions are made collectively, by fair democratic vote.

1. THE PLANNERS

 Yeo Joonsoo currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer of ‘Gallery Chosun’. Although he did not major in gallery management or exhibition planning during his school years, he finds himself in a position to continue his mother's gallery, which was established independently from his grandfather's ‘Chosun Art Gallery’. Amidst this, he developed a friendship with me, a curator and operator of Space Willing N Dealing, and we often engaged in conversations. Occasionally, he expressed his interest in exhibition planning. In the winter of 2023, he requested my participation in curating three exhibitions to be held from 2024 to 2025. He mentioned that this would be a series of cultural exchanges with France, and the participating artists have already been decided.

   During a time when the art market was thriving, Yeo Joonsoo seemed to be greatly impressed by the art scene he encountered during his trip to France. While researching various types of exhibition spaces there, he came across Le Wonder, a unique collaborative non-profit organization, which piqued his significant interest. He decided on a collaborative exhibition between Le Wonder's artists and those working with Gallery Chosun, and he seemed to want to see a different landscape from the commercial exhibition he was familiar with. He reached out to an artist close to him who was familiar with France, and through this connection, he contacted Le Wonder. After several meetings, the exhibition was successfully arranged. Subsequently, artists’ portfolios were exchanged between Korean and French. Due to the relatively smaller size of Gallery Chosun compared to Le Wonder, two exhibitions were scheduled in Seoul for 2024, each featuring nine artists, and in 2025, all participating artists had the opportunity to showcase their works in Le Wonder's spacious exhibition space. At this stage, contemplating the content of the exhibition, he suggested to me curate the exhibition.

   What intrigued me was that, despite the exhibition being already arranged and having all the key elements such as artists and venue in place, the actual content that could be perceived as an exhibition was not yet formulated. The crucial process of how the space and the artists could come together, why, and through what means to create a cohesive exhibition was not progressing. Consequently, my role in this exhibition was clear, and it represented a somewhat different attempt. Interestingly, the keyword "different" seemed to be useful in various ways for this exhibition. I responded to the proposal, and asked Yeo Joonsoo, who had already brought it to a practical state, to also participate as a co-planner for this exhibition.

   Returning to the figure of Yeo Joonsoo, despite his educational background being unrelated to his exhibition, he seemed to be grappling with his own solutions to what he should be doing now. His approach appeared rough and sometimes veering off course, but he was gradually carving out his own territory. Having received art education since childhood, majoring in the field of art in high school and college, having built a career as a curator, my background was 'different' from his, as I had built my career in exhibition planning. The context he brought for the exhibition was ambiguous, yet this process led me to reflect and contemplate from a different perspective.

2. MAP

   As we navigate our way through living on Earth, we delineate regions by establishing various environments, broadly categorized as countries, provinces, cities, neighborhoods, etc., and officially represent them through maps. This is a naturally occurring, yet sometimes artificially imposed, division considering complex factors like politics, economy, environment, culture, etc. This division is constantly changing due to factors such as wars, agreements, and the influence of the natural environment. The topography of South Korea, in particular, has undergone dynamic changes. After liberation, it was divided into North and South by the Korean War in 1950. Recently, there have been discussions in the news about the possibility of incorporating Gimpo City into Seoul. Hong Kong, which was under British rule, was absorbed into China as a Special Administrative Region in 1997. As of 2024, the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia has caused the flight distance between Seoul and Paris to increase from the usual 12 hours to 14 hours, as flights divert around specific regions. The physical distance between Seoul and Paris is approximately known to be 8,976 km. If using other modes of transportation such as cars, ships, or trains, the distance and travel time would be much longer. Flight distance is just one sense of distance among many, and we are aware that, in the era of advanced internet communication, the distance and time for information exchange have converged close to zero. Can flight distance, ground or maritime distance, and the distance for information exchange be defined as absolute criteria for the distance between different regions? It might be impossible to determine and define land and existence through a map divided by a single line.

   I had to consider whether the term Yeo Joonsoo consistently emphasized, "cultural exchange between two countries," was indeed an effective expression under the current status. To convey the meaning of 'exchange' as he desires, it became clear that distinct entities must coexist. Before exploring cultural exchange between different regions, I had to confront the fact that the process of creating an exhibition by me, a curator Kim Inseon, and the form of the exhibition pursued by Yeo Joonsoo were in different states. Recognizing the organic conditions that could connect different regions involved acknowledging that the two institutions, two planners, and artists operating in different areas should first acknowledge their distinct realms. The word that came to mind was 'map.' The departure from the traditional exhibition production process led to the emergence of another form. The title "As the Sharpen Narrative Fades, an Unveiling Map Emerges " was born out of this realization.

   Given these circumstances, this exhibition required careful consideration, particularly in the process of mutually exchanging cultural and artistic content between specific regions. It was essential to gauge mutual understanding and the functioning within the exhibition content through the works presented by the two institutions' selected artists. Upon revisiting portfolios, I selected works from each artist to be grouped according to different sections. The artists included in this exhibition have shaped their respective domains through various types of work formats and developed concepts to create their uniqueness. Various elements for building the exhibition - planning, design, communication, photography, promotion, distribution, etc. - will manifest in a flexible manner as they interweave with each other for each exhibition, creating a specific structure. Through this exhibition series, new exhibitions, texts, videos, etc., will be produced, presenting a dynamic map where constantly moving individual elements can be revealed.

3. Gallery Chosun and Le Wonder

   Let's rewind the process of the exhibition. In the two cities located in East Asia and Europe, with each gauging the distance between them, we speculated on the distance covered by the artworks during their transfer. We exchanged information about the participating artists' works and prepared for the exhibition. The two institutions hosting this, Gallery Chosun and Le Wonder, have been drawing their unique topographies as contemporary art exhibition spaces for many years.

   Since its opening in 2004, Gallery Chosun has introduced experimental works by domestic contemporary artists for over 20 years, entering the art market. Located in Sogyeok-dong, Seoul, Gallery Chosun has persistently pursued experimental exhibitions among the surrounding large commercial galleries, thereby accumulating a distinctive recognition. In other words, it has presented works by selectively considering the artists' inclinations, the gallerist's tastes, meaningful concepts in contemporary art, and customer preferences. Since 2019, the gallery has been expanding exhibition spaces available to artists, striving to embody a comprehensive gallery structure physically. Moreover, surpassing the 20th anniversary in 2024, Gallery Chosun ambitiously aims to initiate a large-scale international exchange exhibition, expanding its scope of activities significantly. Additionally, through collaboration with guest curators, the gallery intends to establish a more profound context for exhibitions. The exchange exhibition with the overseas non-profit organization Le Wonder, selected as the first program, will tightly integrate the scenes of contemporary art in Korean and French contexts.

   'Le Wonder' was established in 2011 as an artist-run space for French artists. It operates as an artist-run space, continuing the tradition of an artist collective primarily consisting of artists active in France. Unlike typical alternative spaces, it clusters individual artists on an organizational level, currently playing the role of an institution with a systematic system as its scale expands. To maintain smooth organization, it makes operational decisions through fair voting while strictly separating administration and creative activities, resembling the concept of an association or art center. The collective, consisting of around 60 members, is currently situated in a large closed factory building in the suburbs of Paris. They have transformed this place into a space for experimenting with artistic and political thinking. Le Wonder is a free, independent, and experimental space. It provides large and affordable working spaces outside Paris, shared facilities for interdisciplinary collaborations, and equipment for large projects. Additionally, it offers ample space and programs for producing various contents of contemporary art, including exhibitions, seminars, lectures, residencies, and performances, contributing to shaping the contemporary art scene.

4. THE ARTISTS

   The exhibition, As the Sharpen Narrative Fades, an Unveiling Map Emerges, is an ongoing project structured in stages that involve reexamining predefined or regulated territories, reconstructing them, exploring unknown territories, and setting individual areas from a microscopic perspective. This reflects the ever-changing reality of terrain due to political, economic, environmental, and other factors, similar to the constant shifts in the physical form of maps. The field of art is no exception. For example, an artist who painted realistic scenes yesterday might seek a transformation towards abstraction. Contemporary art reveals diverse multimedia formats by traversing genres. The term "modernity" in art, reflecting on or transforming the past, has constantly evolved through various perspectives and research processes in art history. In the realm of art, reaching a clear conclusion through precise descriptions is nearly impossible. In this exhibition, by witnessing the various terrains presented by each artist, each constantly seeking change, and simultaneously aiming to erase clear descriptions, we will encounter and observe another set of maps skillfully drawn and continuously evolving.

Araks Sahakyan is a visual artist who engages in diverse forms of work, including marker pen drawings, performances, multimedia installations, and tapestries. Her culturally rich artworks are filled with personal trajectories, memories of family, and reflections on hybrid identities. Growing up in Armenia, a former Soviet state in the Caucasus region, the artist immigrated to the southeastern part of Spain. She became interested in art through translation, considered as a form of creative practice. Rather than directly revealing the identity issues that interest her, Sahakyan explores them through communication with others, intimate relationships between bodies, and broader issues such as violence in nature, violated bodies, environmental destruction, or the impact of war.

   Pablo Réol combines images collected from public spaces in France and various regions with music and video. In this process, he seeks to understand, capture, and discover the beauty of confusing situations, vulnerable moments, intimacy, wandering, and the paradoxical closeness encountered. He often reveals the non-verbal violence and power emanating from the language of street drawings. The ironic situations depicted in his work are not vastly different from our everyday experiences. Aimed at dismantling ideological symbols that can be easily encountered everywhere, his work confronts viewers with irony that invites a gaze full of skepticism.

   Collectif Grapain presents the uncertain and contradictory state of the world in crisis. Depicting a poetic and fictional outline of a dystopian future, the collective uses imagination to weave scenarios for a recoverable future. Since 2011, the group, known for their installation works using Ethernet cables, has showcased pieces where entangled remnants of preserved plastic cables resemble archaeological artifacts. Drawing inspiration from the modern zombie motif, symbolizing the world through landscapes and the dead, they consider the shape of computer data as a futuristic myth in which humanity coexists.

   Wendie Zahibo uses photographic works as a metaphor to express the depth of emotion associated with the identity of being Black. Hailing from the Caribbean region with roots in the cultures of Ivory Coast and Central Africa, the artist takes a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the world based on her identity. Connecting her body with the universe, she aims to break down the barriers between imagination and reality, constantly seeking answers to the questions about existence. The artist combines photography and sound, exploring new experiences, chance encounters, unexpected events, and moments of astonishment in an ongoing exploration of body and soul. Using language, images, body, stage, and sound, she creates spaces of encounter.

   Yan Tomaszewski is a visual artist and filmmaker based in Paris. His narrative projects combine research-based methodology with public experiments centered around sculpture and film. The video and sculpture work presented in this exhibition, The Good Breast and the Bad Breast (HD Video, 22’ 22’’, 2019), revolves around the mysterious real events surrounding a specific building called Maslon House. The narrative explores how the surrounding environment of this building influences the human psyche, investigating how architecture provides a sense of stability, protection, and comfort, and how it can play either a positive or negative role. Adopting a documentary format, the work delves into the impact of the architectural structure on the psychological well-being of individuals.

5. Clear Description for Now

   The exhibition As the Sharpen Narrative Fades, an Unveiling Map Emerges is a collaborative event organized by 'Gallery Chosun' and 'Le Wonder,' fostering cultural exchange between France and Korea. Similar to the inaugural exhibition held by Korean first-generation gallery 'Chosun Art Gallery' in 1983 to mark its 10th anniversary, which showcased international collaboration with France, the exhibition hosted by 'Gallery Chosun' in 2024 follows in the footsteps of its predecessor, symbolizing the expansive activities of the next generation gallery.

 The event aims to reevaluate predefined or regulated areas and explore the roles and meanings of each artist, institution, and activity unit through the exhibition, symbolizing the legacy of Gallery Chosun as the next-generation gallerist. It seeks to showcase the flexible nature of art. The exhibition not only examines the geographical concept of a 'map' based on the locations of each institution leading the exhibition in Korea and France but also aims to create a new terrain map by delving into the individuality of exhibition components from a micro perspective.

   In 2024, the exhibition will consist of two group shows in Korea, divided into the first and second halves, featuring Korean and French artists (Part1^* and Part2^**). In 2025, Part3^*** will be organized at Le Wonder in France, featuring all participating artists. The three exhibitions, divided but centered around a common theme, will progressively expand the concept, showcasing stages such as daily life and art, existence and virtuality, and another terrain map created through art. The planners of the exhibition are Kim Inseon and Yeo Joonsoo.