The
Ilwoo Foundation, affiliated with Hanjin Group, presents the publication
commemorative exhibition 《Surrounded by Space》 by Park Chanmin (46), the
winner of the 6th Ilwoo Photography Award, at Ilwoo Space, located in the lobby
on the first floor of the Korean Air Seosomun Building. Park Chanmin was
selected as the “Photographer of the Year” (Exhibition category) at the 2014
Ilwoo Photography Award.
He has been highly regarded as an emerging artist with
strong potential, recognized for his exploration of contemporary urban housing
forms and his insightful observations on the transformation of social
topography through collective living environments. The exhibition, held at
Ilwoo Space (02-753-6502) from November 5 (Thu) to December 23 (Wed), presents
approximately 40 works, including both earlier and recent pieces by the artist.
Park
Chanmin, who was selected for the Exhibition category of the “Photographer of
the Year” at the 6th Ilwoo Photography Award in 2014, initially studied German
literature at Korea University before entering Chung-Ang University to study
photography. He later pursued contemporary art at the University of Edinburgh
in the UK. Since returning to Korea in 2012, he has been actively working and
gaining recognition as a notable artist.
Through
this award exhibition, Park Chanmin presents a series developed since 2012 that
focuses on apartments as geometric spaces, alongside a newly produced series
centered on urban space. This body of work simplifies collective housing
forms—such as apartments or tower blocks—that represent contemporary Korean
residential environments, emphasizing their form and surface structure.
Through
this process, the artist raises questions about how the spaces we inhabit
differ from warehouses or containers, while revealing the cold and standardized
conditions of contemporary urban life. Following this series, Park Chanmin has
expanded his focus toward the city as a space of everyday life, where most of
modern existence unfolds, developing the 'Urbanscape; Surrounded by Space'
series.
In this series, he examines the general and universal characteristics
of urban space, producing works that foreground the lines and planes generated
by architecture, as well as the cold spatial conditions they create. In
particular, he adopts a schematic and distanced perspective to observe how
lines intersect, planes overlap, and linear and planar elements
coexist—fundamental components of spatial and structural organization.
Through
this approach, his work functions almost as a case study, documenting the
typical and comprehensive spatial structures of the city with a detached and
analytical gaze. As a result, he presents a restrained yet stark depiction of
contemporary life within urban environments. Through the 'Urbanscape; Surrounded
by Space' series, viewers come to realize that living in the city means being
surrounded by artificial spaces constructed by humans—no longer existing within
nature, but rather within a condition of “surrounded by space” produced by
human-made environments.
Shin Sujin, Creative Director of the Ilwoo Foundation
and professor at the Yonsei University Cognitive Science Institute, explained
the reason for the award: “Through his work, which records the transformation
of social topography with a focus on Korean characteristics, Park Chanmin has
created new architectural forms that symbolize urban dwellers living as if
inside buildings without windows.”
