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Korea Herald
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Arts Council Korea to Host ARKO Global Week Presenting A Global Vision: Connecting Korean Arts with the World
SEOUL, South Korea, May 26, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Arts Council Korea (ARKO) is hosting "ARKO Global Week," from May 24 until May 30, 2025, featuring a series of major international programs and events that reinforce Korea's role as a global cultural hub. The week includes the 10th World Summit on Arts and Culture, which brings together global leaders from the arts and culture sectors, and APE CAMP, a collaborative platform fostering innovation between emerging artists and technology developers worldwide. Through these efforts, ARKO seeks to position Korea as a key player in international cultural exchange and to open a new chapter in its global engagement strategy. ARKO Announces Global Vision and New International Strategies At a press briefing on May 14 at the ARKO Art Center in Daehak-ro, Seoul, Chairman Byoung Gug Choung unveiled ARKO's new global vision, themed "Connecting Korean Arts with the World." He also outlined a suite of strategic initiatives aimed at deepening international collaboration and creative development, including: 10th World Summit on Arts and Culture to Convene in Daehak-ro The 10th World Summit on Arts and Culture, co-hosted by ARKO and the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA), will be held May 27–30 in Daehak-ro. The event is expected to bring together over 400 professionals from more than 80 countries, including 105 speakers representing 62 nations, comprising policymakers, cultural leaders, scholars, artists, and government officials. Under the theme "Charting the Future of Arts and Culture," the summit will tackle global challenges such as AI and digital transformation, climate change, and community resilience, focusing on how the arts can respond to and shape these evolving realities. APE CAMP: A Global Crossroads for Artists and Tech Innovators Launched in 2022, APE CAMP is now in its fourth year as APE CAMP is ARKO's signature international platform for interdisciplinary collaboration. This year's edition attracted over 200 applicants from 67 countries, demonstrating growing global interest. The program includes: The 2025 edition will gather 100 participants from 22 countries, mentored by leading institutions including ZKM (Germany) and SAT (Canada). Participants will engage in hands-on creative experiments that blend artistic vision with emerging technologies. Commemorating 30 Years of the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale To mark the 30th anniversary of the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, ARKO is presenting the architecture exhibition "Little Toad, Little Toad: Unbuilding Pavilion", on view from May 10 to November 23 at the Giardini in Venice. The exhibition reflects on the past, present, and future of the Korean Pavilion, with a particular focus on sustainability in the architecture of national pavilions. On May 9, ARKO hosted a dedicated architecture forum, "Vision and Legacy: 30 Years of the Korean Pavilion," featuring key figures such as Franco Mancuso, co-architect of the Korean Pavilion, and Cho Min-suk, commissioner of the 2014 Golden Lion-winning exhibition. Launch of ARKO Art Studio and Expansion of International Programs ARKO recently opened the ARKO Art Studio in Pyeongchang-dong, Seoul - a new creative base for visual artists. The facility includes five private studios, an outdoor performance stage, and an academic hall. It will host 10 resident artists, with programming that includes cultural tours, mentorship, seminars, open studios, art fair participation, and exhibitions. In addition, ARKO is expanding global partnerships to support Korean artists abroad. Current collaborators include: In 2025, ARKO is running residency programs with 23 partner organizations across five global regions and has launched new collaborations with institutions such as New Museum's NEW INC (USA), transmediale (Germany), and Ain Shams University (Egypt). New initiatives to support the international visibility of Korean arts include: Additionally, ARKO is also enhancing inbound cultural exchange through a new Inbound Cooperation Program themed around "Regional Decline," encouraging dialogue and experimental artistic responses to this urgent issue. Chairman Choung concluded, "ARKO will continue to take bold steps to foster a sustainable ecosystem for Korean arts. By transcending borders and partnering with global institutions, we aim to make Korean arts more accessible, more connected, and more inspiring to the world." Press materials and images are available for download via the Arts Council Korea Google Drive. [ARKO] 2025_Global Week presskit - Google Drive
Korea Herald
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Where are we now? Thirty-year history of Korean Pavilion at Venice Biennale
Architects, curators, experts discuss legacy of Korean Pavilion at Venice Biennale 2025 VENICE, Italy — For the past three decades, South Korean curators and architects have presented their discourse to global audiences at the Korean Pavilion, the last permanent national pavilion at Giardini, one of the Venice Biennale's main venues. Commemorating the pavilion's 30th anniversary, architects, curators, experts and city officials gathered on May 8 to attend the '30 Years of the Korean Pavilion' forum held at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, and reflect on the legacy and meaning of the Venice Biennale pavilion built in 1995. Franco Mancuso, co-architect of the Korean Pavilion who collaborated with the late Korean architect Kim Seok-chul, walked forum attendees through the history of the Venice Biennale and shared his experience of designing the pavilion. He donated the design materials of the Korean Pavilion to the Korean government in 2023. 'The Biennale is an institution unique in the world. Equally unique is the location, the Giardini, which for a long time has identified the institution and represents its roots,' he said. The design of the Korean Pavilion itself became the cornerstone of the exhibition this year, presenting how architecture responds to the surrounding environment and is built with respect to nature. The exhibition, 'Little Toad, Little Toad: Unbuilding Pavilion,' was shown at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale and opened to the public on May 10. 'Rather than thinking of the pavilion as a white cube, we approached it as a living, layered entity," said Chung Dah-young, co-curator of the exhibition. 'We included the surrounding trees (as part of the exhibition), whose presence significantly sharpened the pavilion design. Inside, we displayed installations on the rooftop and the underground level along with the site map that shows its relationship to the nature of the landscape.' Kimm Jong-soung, president emeritus of Seoul Architects and commissioner of the Korean Pavilion in 2002, expressed admiration of Mancuso and gratitude to fellow Korean architects and curators. 'Their creative efforts (for the newly opened exhibition this year) were trained on an analysis of what comes down today, toward the deconstruction of elements that constitute an ensemble and, finally, toward a creative vision of what the Korean Pavilion can hope to be in the decades ahead,' he said. Architect Cho Min-suk, who received the Golden Lion award in 2014 for curating the Korean Pavilion theme, 'Crow's Eye View: The Korean Peninsula,' talked about his project. In particular, he focused on how he expanded his discourse to include North Korea by questioning why the Korean Pavilion was named 'Corea,' not South Korea. "Rem Koolhaas (who helmed the Biennale as curator) announced the theme 'Fundamentals," which attempted to — instead of being dedicated to the celebration of the contemporary — look at history and reconstruct how architecture finds itself in its current situation and speculate on its future," Cho said. "It has been a real privilege to be part of this momentum, and I am quite excited to see what is coming for the future," he added. Marco Mulazzani, a professor at University of Ferrara, gave a presentation with the theme of "Permanence in Change: The Giardini of the Venice Biennale from 1887." Rinio Bruttomesso, a former professor at Iuav University of Venice, shared his memories of the late Korean architect Kim Seok-chul, the co-architect of Korean Pavilion. The forum, with an audience of some 130, was moderated by Choi Choon, professor of the department of architecture and architectural engineering at Seoul National University. '(The forum) serves not only as a reflection of the past journey, but also as a launching point toward a greater future,' said Song Si-kyeong, director of the general secretariat of Arts Council Korea.
