Poster image of “Koo Bohnchang: The Look of Things” ©Asia Culture CenterAsia Culture Center (ACC) presents a solo
exhibition by artist Koo Bohnchang, “Koo Bohnchang: The Look of Things”, until
March 30, 2025, at ACC Creation Space 3 & 4.
The solo exhibition is part of “ACC Focus,”
a series of special exhibitions that introduce world-class Asian contemporary
art masters who have changed the face of human culture and art. To kick off the
series, ACC presents photographer Koo Bonchang, a pioneer of Korean
contemporary photography. This exhibition focuses on Koo's major object series,
examining both the macro and micro narratives of his chosen objects and
focusing on the Korean and Asian sensibilities that exist within them.
Koo Bohnchang, Yin and Yang 001, 2020 ©Asia Culture Center
The
exhibition is divided into three parts, with the first part transforming a
series of historically significant artifacts such as Korean War relics, Joseon
white porcelain, and Silla gold crowns into video and installation works. The Vessel
series is composed of photographs of white porcelain that has been smuggled out
of the country, creating a dramatic appearance in the 10-meter-high ACC
exhibition hall.
The
Gold series is installed in a large light box (187x148x59cm)
lying on the floor of the exhibition hall, evoking the shine of the golden
crowns before they were buried in the ground.
Koo Bohnchang,
Koo’s Things, 1998-2003 ©Asia Culture CenterPart
2 introduces a series of works of everyday objects found by the artist. The
series includes Collections, a series of photographs from
the artist's collection; Chasse-Roue, which features a
chasse-roue, a device in French architecture from the 15th century; Interiors
and Object, which focus on empty boxes or empty spaces; and Soap,
an everyday object. In addition, Koo Bonchang's unreleased video work Korea
Fantasy (2017) is being shown for the first time.
The
final part of the exhibition presents a variety of archival materials,
including Koo's collections and collaborations with popular media, which adds
to the understanding of the exhibition's themes and worldview.
In
conjunction with the exhibition, the artist talk program will be held three
times during the exhibition. The first one was held on November 30 and will be
held in February and March next year.
Ji Yeon Lee has been working as an editor for the media art and culture channel AliceOn since 2021 and worked as an exhibition coordinator at samuso (now Space for Contemporary Art) from 2021 to 2023.
