SPACE January 2025 (No. 686)
Seoul Model Shop, Korean Pavilion 1967/2024, 2024, 3D printed model, acryl, aluminum, 66×30×24.7cm, scale: 1:50. / Image courtesy of BARE
The exhibition ‘Man and His Hand: Traces of the Expo 67 Korean Pavilion’ was held in the exhibition hall of the Korean Cultural Centre Canada from Nov. 22 to Dec. 6, 2024 to commemorate the ‘Korea– Canada Mutual Cultural Exchange 2024 – 2025’. The Korean Pavilion of Montreal’s Expo 67 in 1967 was designed by Kim Swoo Geun under the theme ‘Man and His World’. It was the first work of Korean architecture to be featured on a global stage, and, unlike most of the pavilions which were dismantled after the event, Kim’s pavilion remains intact to this day. For this exhibition, which commemorates the moment when the Korean identity was first introduced to the international community, BARE (co-principals, Jeon Jinhong, Choi Yunhee) oversaw the curation, and the works from media artist Jung Jaekyung, the model based creative group Seoul Model Shop (Choi Jong Eon, Kim Jongbuhm), and the computer artist Jeonghyo are all presented. The exhibition was realised by gathering information on the Korean Pavilion from archival research, trips to Montreal, and interviews from related parties. Through his media works Traces and Topos Chronos, Jeong Jaekyung presents the archival footage related to the pavilion. The Seoul Model Shop reenacted a form and impression of the Korean Pavilion through its 3D modeling work Korean Pavilion 1967/2024. By designing an interactive game titled Post-Expo City, BARE and Jeonghyo invited the audience to participate in an experience of restoring the pavilion’s tower and skylights, which have been lost, while also offering the audience the chance to redesign a new Korean Pavilion by designating spatial roles. These participations were all recorded for future archiving.
