Installation view of 《Whose Forest, Whose World》 © Daegu Art Museum

Daegu Art Museum presents the 2024 Daegu Forum III exhibition 《Whose Forest, Whose World》. The “Daegu Forum” is a thematic exhibition series newly established in 2021 to commemorate the museum’s 10th anniversary and to envision the next decade ahead. This edition of the Daegu Forum has been planned to reflect on anthropocentric narratives and to evoke a new ecological sensibility through diverse contemporary works by Korean and international artists addressing environmental and ecological crises.

On a global scale, climate change and ecological crisis have emerged as some of the most contentious and urgent issues facing humanity, alongside the rise of discourse surrounding the Anthropocene. In 2000, Dutch atmospheric chemist Paul J. Crutzen and biologist Eugene F. Stoermer proposed the concept of the “Anthropocene,” referring to a new epoch shaped by humanity’s transformation of the Earth’s climate and ecosystems.


Installation view of 《Whose Forest, Whose World》 © Daegu Art Museum

The concept of the Anthropocene has sparked extensive scholarly debate, including critiques that it assigns responsibility for planetary change to all humans indiscriminately. Alternative terms such as the “Capitalocene,” “Plantationocene,” and “Chthulucene,” as well as discussions related to new materialism, have emerged, prompting a closer examination of the relationships and issues that humans have long overlooked in environmental discourse.

These currents, compounded by the recent global pandemic, have heightened social awareness of environmental issues and popularized the theme of “eco.” Yet even this theme continues to be consumed within neo-capitalist systems driven by human desire.

《Whose Forest, Whose World》 is a site for reflecting on beings, landscapes, and temporalities that have been objectified and marginalized in service of human-centered narratives on this small planet we call Earth. The exhibition slowly examines both the internal and external dimensions of today’s nature, non-human entities, and the landscapes shaped by human urbanization and civilization. Through this process, it poses a fundamental question: whose forest is the Earth we stand upon, and whose world does it represent?


Installation view of 《Whose Forest, Whose World》 © Daegu Art Museum

The exhibition is organized into three sections: “Though Spring Has Come, No Flowers Bloom and No Birds Sing…,” “Forgotten Faces, Sutured Worlds,” and “Belonging to the World, Coexisting with the World.” Thirteen artists participate in the exhibition, including Kang Hong-Goo, Kwon Hyewon, Kim Okseon, Kim Yujeong, Baek Jeonggi, Song Sanghee, Lee Saetbyeol, Jang Hanna, Jung Jooyoung, Jung Hyejeong, Lee Haeminseon, Anicka Yi, and Tomás Saraceno.

Through this exhibition, Daegu Art Museum seeks to provide a space to reflect on our present relationship with nature, ultimately to reconsider the relationship between humans and nature in the post-Anthropocene era, and to open discussions on coexistence. Furthermore, it hopes to offer visitors a meaningful opportunity to share ecological sensibilities regarding nature, non-human beings, and the future through the works of participating artists.

References