[ART]​PANORAMA, SONGEUN

PANORAMA

SONGEUN Art and Cultural Foundation

September 2023

SONGEUN Art and Cultural Foundation, a non-profit organisation established in 1989, is continuing their tradition of showcasing up-and-coming Korean artists with their new group show "PANORAMA". Sixteen creators from the country are on display with a mixture of video, installation and painting that aim to capture the here and now of contemporary Korean art.

One of the first works you encounter in the three-floor exhibition is Sungsil Ryu’s “Cherry Jang” series. The videos take the viewer on the journey of the fictional broadcast jockey (BJ) Cherry Jang streaming her life to adoring fans as she aims to become a “first-class citizen” before her untimely demise into the afterlife. The works take 35 minutes to watch in full and are shown alongside other video works, including “The Perfect Moment” by Jaye Rhee. If you have time to watch them all from the beginning it is certainly recommended.

Further upstairs you can find Heejoon Lee’s “Scaffolding” series of moon-shaped colourful and abstract collage works, including “The Chambers of Time” which plays with ideas of temporality and volatility. Through the translucent yellow curtain on the same floor, you’ll find a comic book-like room dedicated to Raejung Sim, which features paintings, installations and the video work “BATH HOUSE: Dr. Pali’s Bathing Method” which explores ideas of life, death and medicalisation.

On the third floor you’ll find a moving depiction of modern queer identity shrouded in traditional Buddhist imagery in the “Shimhodo” series by Grim Park. The moving paintings explore the artist’s experience as a minority in a small town and evoke the desire to find one’s true nature in the world. On the other side of the floor sits the thought-provoking paintings of Jinju Lee. The detail of the artist’s work is visually striking and you can inspect these works in great detail or from a distance and find something entirely different. “Unreadability” and “The Lowland” stand out as two which you could absorb for quite some time and ponder the technique and perspective on display.

PANORAMA runs until October 28, 2023 at SONGEUN Art and Cultural Foundation, 441 Dosan-daero, Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Instagram: @songeun_official