The Korean Cultural Centre UK (KCCUK) continues in its efforts to introduce Korea’s vibrant contemporary art scene to the UK with its new exhibition, Riptide. Focusing on the work of the KCCUK’s 2016 Artist of the Year Koo Jeong A, the exhibition re-contextualises 20 large-scale line drawings from the artist’s book project, Koo Jeong-A: R (2006).
Although intended as a solo exhibition, a choice selection of international artists have been invited by Koo Jeong A to respond and feature alongside her existing works in order to create a contemplative dialogue exploring artistic collaboration and the narratives created through this process.
Those featured, including Kyung Roh Bannwart, Martin Roth and Mona Yoo & Hanging Ma, have used the artist’s work Civilising Process (2005) as a departure point. It is one of 1,001 intricate line drawings published in Koo Jeong A: R (2006), which refers to One Thousand and One Nights: an 8th Century collection of Middle Eastern stories, folk tales and myths. Here lies the crux of Koo Jeong A’s storytelling investigation, to which the chosen artists have responded through site-specific installations.
Martin Roth’s untitled (persian rugs) is an exemplary installation featured: a number of Persian rugs are brought to life with the cultivation of grass. The damp smell and unstoppable rate at which the grass grows creates an all-encompassing sensory experience, giving rise to the question of how culture, in all of its complexity, is documented.
Through such installations a new story is created, revealing the many ways in which narratives are unearthed and translated from cultural objects. It is a global exploration, represented by the international assortment of participating artists and their opposing energies which meet to form the exhibition.
Riptide, 7 October – 19 November. The Korean Culture Centre UK, London. For more, visit www.london.korean-culture.org
Credits:
1. Martin Roth, From May to June 2012 I Grew Grass on Rugs in a Castle. Installation shot from Kalsdorf Castle, Austria. Courtesy of the Korean Cultural Centre UK.
