Sinan County, Jeollanam-do Province, announced that it has invited world-renowned British sculptor Antony Gormley to install a large-scale artwork on Bigeum Island as part of the Art Island Project.

In order to combine the ecological heritage of Mother Nature with the vision of contemporary artists, the Sinan Art Island Project aims to invite artists of international stature under the theme of sea, land, sun, and infinity, with each artist’s view of their relationship with the world incorporated into their works and landscapes.

Antony Gormley, who participated in the Art Island Project, visited Bigeum Island in the summer of 2022 and was inspired to conceive of an artwork for Sinan, considering the harmony of the island’s colorful natural landscape, tidal flats, sea, and community. “I hope that this artwork will be a record of Sinan and stimulate people’s imagination,” said Gormley.

Park Woo-ryang, the governor of Sinan County, stated “We are in the process of creating an Art Island unique to Sinan County, which can be enjoyed exclusively here, including Antony Gormley’s Biguem Island Museum of the Sea, Olafur Eliasson’s Docho Island Museum of the Earth, Yukinori Yanagi’s Anjwa Island Floating Museum, and Mario Botta’s Jaeun Island Infinito Museum,” adding, “Through strategic cultural and artistic projects that will become the future sustenance of Sinan, we aim to boost the pride of Sinan residents and create a thriving Sinan that is sought after by people around the world.”

Antony Gormley is an internationally recognized artist whose sculptures, installations, and public artworks explore the relationship between the human body and space. Since the 1960s, he has critically engaged with his own and others’ bodies, asking essential questions about where human existence stands in relation to nature and the universe. Gormley is continually committed to seeing art as a generative space from which new acts, ideas and sensations can emerge.

Gormley’s work is represented in major museums in the UK and internationally, and his public works include Angel of the North (Gateshead, UK), Another Place (Crosby Beach, UK), Inside Australia (Lake Ballard, Western Australia), Exposure (Lelystad, Netherlands), Chord (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA), and ALERT (Imperial College London, UK).

References

• 신안군 보도자료 (Sinan County Press Release)