Jun So-jung, who explores divide between Koreas, looks at 'time of land'

Korea Herald

07-07-2025

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Artist Jun So-jung had arrived in Abu Dhabi late the previous night from Antwerp, Belgium, her flight delayed by Israel's attack on Iran earlier that day.
She was in Antwerp for the opening of a group exhibition at M HKA, Museum of Contemporary Art Belgium where her video work 'Syncope' (2023) is being shown.
In Abu Dhabi, she participated in a public program held as part of 'Layered Medium: We Are in Open Circuits,' a Seoul Museum of Art and Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation joint exhibition at Manarat Al Saadiyat. The exhibition, part of this year's Abu Dhabi Festival, came to an end June 30.
Traveling is part and parcel of being an artist today. Artists often travel to find new inspiration; they also travel the globe, showing their work. Jun, whose works are in the permanent collection of leading art galleries and institutions around the world -- including the Han Nefkens Foundation; the Uli Sigg Collection; MMCA, Korea; SeMA; and Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art -- is often on the road, working on a project and attending exhibitions.
'I was curious in what context my work would be received, how an audience in a place with a very different historical context would respond to my work, especially given that my work is about North and South Korea,' Jun said in an interview with The Korea Herald on June 14, right after a panel discussion entitled 'Society as Medium — Objects as Anchors: Material, Narrative and Memory.'
"'Early Arrival of Future' was made 10 years ago and it is also being shown at SeMA as part of an exhibition marking the 80th anniversary of liberation. It is sad. The work is being shown repeatedly like this because we remain divided,' she said, adding that she harbors complex feelings about this state of affairs.
'Early Arrival of Future' (2015) is a video work featuring two pianists — North Korean defector Kim Cheol-woong and South Korean Uhm Eun-kyung — performing a piece the two composed. The title of the song, 'Sinabeuro,' meaning 'unknowingly, little by little,' reflects the process by which the new music was written through dialogue between the artists, each selecting a popular song from their country as a starting point.
Jun's other video works shown in Abu Dhabi likewise center on the state of the divided Korean Peninsula. 'Eclipse' (2020) shows North Korean-style gayageum and harp performed by a Korean Japanese and a South Korean, respectively, while 'Green Screen' (2021) shows the lush greenery of the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas.
'It ('Early Arrival of Future') has a simple structure, but passing of time adds to its depth,' Jun said, explaining something different is created when seen in a different setting, at a different time.
Observing how the moderator of the panel discussion had added her story to 'Early Arrival of Future,' Jun said, 'It was very interesting how, rather than viewing the work just as an exploration of an issue between the two Koreas, she added her own narrative in discussing the work,' she said.
'If I were to make it now, I would not make it so simple, but there is power that such simplicity lends,' Jun said.
The work might look simple, but making the video was a complex project. There were 12 stationary cameras surrounding the two artists, who were each playing on a grand piano facing the other.
The setup could be used to show the relationship between the two Koreas and how inter-Korean issues or stories are read and dealt with within the geopolitical context, the artist thought.
Even more complex was how the two musicians came up with the new composition. A good three to four months went into composing 'Sinabeuro,' involving extensive dialogue.
Photographs showing excerpts of their conversations and music scores are on display at the SeMA exhibition 'Prelude: With a Heart Singing Stars,' running through Oct. 26.
The conversations between the North Korean defector pianist, who had studied in Russia, and the South Korean pianist, who had studied in Germany, reveal their different backgrounds.
'For example, the North Korean pianist says, 'These are things that must be observed in North Korea, but you keep trying to override them.' The process of creating the music is quite interesting,' she said.
Each had decided on a piece that was well known in their respective country — 'Yonggang Ginari,' a lively and joyous work from the North, and 'Eommaya Nunaya,' a plaintive lyrical song from the South.
Both pieces share the pentatonic scale that imbues them with a particular mood. But that was where the similarities ended, and the musicians, over time, despite their differences, succeeded in creating a coherent new piece, giving Jun the answer she sought to the question, 'Could ideological conflict be overcome through art?'
The video does not identify who is from the North or the South. 'When it was shown, many in the audience thought the woman was from the North. It reflects South Koreans' prejudiced image of North Koreans or North Korean defectors. They said the woman looked very sad, that she looked like she had a lot of stories and that she was very expressive,' Jun said.
The opposite is true, however. 'The man was an elite, a graduate of a Pyongyang university. He had had a luxurious lifestyle,' said Jun. "For me, the audience's reaction was very interesting."
'Green Space' was shown in Piccadilly Circus in London in August 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The idea was to turn a very urban, highly commercial scenery into a green one.
Jun began shooting in the civilian-controlled zone south of the DMZ in May 2021 and continued into July.
It was 'very, very green,' she recalled. 'The vivid scent of the greenery struck my nose.'
On screen, the untouched nature of the DMZ looks serene, but the reality is starkly different. 'It is very harsh there,' she said. There are frequent wildfires, many landmine explosions and wildlife are sometimes injured or killed by barbed wire fences, according to an environmental nongovernmental organization she consulted for the project.
'Eclipse' is a two-channel video work that explores the interaction of South Korea and North Korea through a Korean Japanese playing a North Korean gayageum and a South Korean harpist.
The story of how gayageum player Park Soon-ah came to play the 21-string North Korean instrument has everything to do with contemporary history.
The musician's grandparents had immigrated to Japan before the division of the Korean Peninsula.
'(Following the division) North Korea provided a lot of assistance to these Joseonin, including traditional instruments,' Jun explained.
Having grown up listening to cassette tapes of gayageum music from the North, Park went to North Korea to learn gayageum. There, she came to realize that she would have to go to South Korea to learn to play the authentic gayageum. In South Korea, the original 12-string gayageum is used, whereas North Korea created the 21-string version in the 1970s so that Western music could be performed, driven by Soviet influence.
The music the two artists perform is rooted in the story of modern Korea. It is a newly composed piece inspired by the late Yun I-sang's 'Double Concerto,' written in 1977, which likens the division of the Korean Peninsula to two star-crossed lovers. Another motif of the new composition was Yun's use of Asian music elements in performing Western instruments.
'The idea was to use these motives to create a type of harmony or different rhythm with these two instruments,' Jun said.
While all three video works shown in Abu Dhabi revolve around the two Koreas, Jun's greater interest lies in modernity. Jun recently went on a research trip to Almaty in Kazakhstan. 'I visit Europe frequently but I realized that I really don't know about the land in between,' she said.
'Some call it Eurasia. Historically, the Silk Road was here; astrologers journeyed the path as did travelers and pilgrims. I had an idea that it would be good to look at time through this land,' she said.
'Looking at the time of the land means dealing with history. And through that, we can look at the present anew,' Jun said.
That initial thought led to yet another idea — to explore the history of migration of Goryoin, ethnic Koreans living in Central Asia.
'There is a very archaeological aspect to this current project,' said Jun, after explaining how her works are conducted with an 'anthropologist's attitude' and involve a lot of on-site research and interviews.
The project she is working on lies somewhere between 'being archeological and being science fiction-esque,' she said. It would be a video work and something performative.
Asked if she might be featured in the video playing the accordion — she is a member of a band, Black Night, composed of fellow artists — she dismissed the idea with a laugh. 'No, I won't be in it. It will feature local musicians.'
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