SPACE March 2025 (No. 688)
SPACE is preparing an archival book, Archiving International Architecture Exhibition at the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 1996 – 2025 (tentative title), as part of the ‘30th Anniversary Archival Research of the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale’, organised by the Arts Council Korea (ARKO). The archive book, scheduled to be published in May 2025, will include interviews with the commissioners of the early exhibitions at the Korean Pavilion, and will be published in a series of SPACE. Through these interviews, SPACE will reconstruct a narrative of the early years of Korean architecture exhibition history centred on the Venice Biennale and reflect on the meaning of the Korean Pavilion as it celebrates its 30th anniversary.
Date and time 14th of January 2025, 14:00 – 16:00
Location Artist House Lounge
Interview Joh Sungyong principal, Johsungyong architect office/ubac × Kim Jeoungeun editor-in-chief
Participants Yeo Sunhee, Yoo Jiyeon Arts Council Korea, Bang Yukyung, Kim Bokyoung
Recording Kim Hyerin
Data collection Kim Bokyoung
Joh Sungyong being interviewed in the Artist House Lounge on 14th of January, 2025
Joh Sungyong, Commissioner of Korean Pavilion at the 10th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale 2006
In 2006, which marked a decade since Korea opened a national pavilion in the International Architecture Exhibition of Venice Biennale, Joh Sungyong was appointed as the commissioner. He is the fifth commissioner of the Korean Pavilion at the International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, following Kang Sukwon in 1996 (covered in SPACE No. 686), Kim Seok Chul in 2000, Kimm Jong Soung in 2002 (covered in SPACE No. 687), and Chung Guyon in 2004. At that time, Joh Sungyong was actively working mainly as part of the 4.3 Group (early 1990s), in the Seoul School of Architecture (1996 – 2004), and at the Korea National University of Arts (2005 – 2008), and he was also engaged in many architectural projects including the Asian Olympic Village and Memorial Park (1983 – 1986), Uijae Museum of Korean Art (2001), Seonyudo Park (2002), and Seoul Olympic Museum of Art (SOMA) (2002 – 2004) as well as projects at Paju Book City and Heyri Art Valley. SPACE interviewed him in January at the Artist House in Daehak-ro. While worrying over discrepancies of memory, Joh Sungyong pointed out the Korean architectural world only began to take to the international stage in the 1980s and 1990s. The Korean Pavilion in 2006 put the results of each of the five Korean architects’ individual observations and interpretations of Korea’s urban conditions on show, as represented by Seoul. The title of the exhibition, ‘perma n stant’, is a compound word formed of of permanent and instant, looking simultaneously at the historical sites scattered across the 600-year-old city of Seoul and the views of today’s drastically changing city. Commissioner Joh Sungyong, appointed architects Kim Seunghoy, Kim Hun, Choi Wook, Shin Haewon and Kim Chanjoong as exhibitors, supporting them as a working group to share values and questions prompted by the cities, and tasked them with deepening appreciation of the theme. The exhibitors chose the terrain from Namsan to Myeongdong, the apartment-concentrated area centred around Bukchon, Ichon-dong and Banpo, the Hangang River and the national cemetery in Dongjak-dong, and Teheran-ro as their focal points for discussion, and reflected on the issues facing our present through the medium of architecture.
Cover of the catalogue of the Korean Pavilion at the 10th International Architecture Exhibition of Venice Biennale 2006 |
The poster of the Korean Pavilion at the 10th International Architecture Exhibition of Venice Biennale 2006 |
Situation in Korea and the Experience Architectural Exhibition
Kim Jeoungeun: In January 2006, you were appointed as commissioner of Korean Pavilion at the 10th International Architecture Exhibition of Venice Biennale (Sep. 12 – Nov. 7, 2006). As you were the 5th commissioner, and you had experience participating in the 8th International Architecture Exhibition, I think the conditions were a little different for you to those experienced by the previous commissioners.
Joh Sungyong: To provide some context not only for the Venice Biennale but for any architectural activities in Europe, the only person who had both a deep understanding of Korea and its connections with Europe was Kang Sukwon (1938 –), who had studied in France. Major architectural events in Europe were often linked to the Union Internationales des Architectes (UIA)▼1, which represented the global architectural community, and naturally, the UIA also had ties to the Venice Biennale. Historically, the UIA traces its roots back to CIAM (Congres Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne) led by Le Corbusier (1887 – 1965). The UIA headquarters is also in Paris, and its key members are predominantly French, making French the primary language of communication. If you study architectural history, you will find that many key architecture declarations were made in French. However, Korea has not been culturally close to France. Most of the architects in Korea elected to go to the U.S. for study abroad, creating a certain degree of distance from European architects and institutions. Then Korea joined the UIA, and the late Kim Seok Chul (1943 – 2016) held great influence. Kang Sukwon took charge of international exchange programmes. At that time, there was simply no one else who could take on that role, which is why he was selected as the first commissioner for Korean Pavilion at the International Architecture Exhibition. Kim Chung-up (1922 – 1988), who had worked at Le Corbusier’s atelier in France, had already passed away. After Kim Chung-up, the next key figure with European connections was Kang Sukwon. This is how the Korean Pavilion at the International Architecture Exhibition began—under circumstances quite different from those of other national pavilions.
Kim Jeoungeun: You were also close to Chung Guyon (1945 – 2011), who was the commissioner in 2004,▼2 and, figures such as Yi Jong Ho (1957 – 2014, then a professor, Korea National University of Arts), Choi Moongyu (1960 – , professor, Yonsei University), and Ahn Sangsoo – who were associated with the 4.3 Group and Seoul School of Architecture (sa) – were involved in the 2006 exhibition in various capacities. I’m curious about how your past collaborations and experiences of exhibiting with them influenced your role as commissioner for the Venice Biennale.
Joh Sungyong: Nowadays, architectural exhibitions are quite common, even students organise exhibitions. However, back then there were hardly any architectural exhibitions. The few that existed in Korea were mostly internal exhibitions for association members. There used to be an event so-called the Gukjeon (National Exhibition).▼3 Initially, it was held annually at a national level, but it wasn’t truly an independent architecture exhibition, and was the only exhibition that displayed architecture. Even that event eventually disappeared, and no direct successor remained. However, in the 1980s, Korea hosted major international events the 1986 Asian Games and the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Korea was suddenly responsible for international events with little experience of hosting large-scale national events.
Kim Jeoungeun: From the moment Seoul won the Olympic bid in 1981 until the games were held in 1988, do you mean to say that this was not about constructing stadiums and redeveloping the city, but about engaging the Korean architectural community to present our architecture to the world, correct?▼4
Joh Sungyong: The first time I went to Japan to hold an exhibition was in 1989.
Kim Jeoungeun: You’re referring to ‘Kim Ki Seok, Joe Sung Yong, Kim In Cheurl: Notion of Madang’, held at Gallery MA in Tokyo (May 8 – June 7, 1989)?▼5
Opening Ceremony of the Korean Pavilion at the 10th International Architecture Exhibition of Venice Biennale 2006. (from left) Kim Hun, Kim Chanjoong, Joh Sungyong, Choi Wook, Shin Haewon and Kim Seunghoy
Joh Sungyong: That’s right. That was the first time I held an exhibition overseas. However, it was funded not publicly but by the private sector. The event was organised by a publishing company and a gallery run by TOTO, a company known for manufacturing bathroom fixtures. The gallery curated significant exhibitions, but it operated in a very different realm to those of large state-sponsored events like the Biennale. Gallery MA’s exhibitions began 1985, and, over the years, they garnered international attention as they featured globally renowned architects such as Frank Gehry (1985), Rem Koolhaas (1988), Bernard Tschumi (1989), Diller + Scofidio (1992), Daniel Libeskind (1994), Santiago Calatrava (1994), Jean Nouvel (1995), and Renzo Piano (1998). Although the gallery is located in a small space inside a building in central Tokyo, since it was privately funded, their strategy was to enlist the world’s top designers, curators, advertisers, and photographers to elevate the quality of the exhibitions. As a result, even though the exhibitions were small in scale, they had significant global impact given the participating artists.
Kim Jeoungeun: In the Oral history publication of the 4·3 Group (2014), you reflected on how this exhibition exposed you to new means of architectural expression, attitudes, and media, including conceptual drawings, models, video, which were then indirectly introduced to the 4.3 Group.
‘Joh Sungyong: ‘Previously, architecture exhibitions organised by the Korean Institute of Architects consisted of rigid 60cm × 60cm panels, with no models at all, and that was our idea of an exhibition. Then, suddenly, we were asked to present models, videos, and drawings. I had never even heard the term ‘drawing’ in this context before, lesser panels. They told us to bring ‘drawings’ that expressed our ideas, and I struggled to understand what that meant. […] In a way, we were learning how architects visually communicate their ideas. That knowledge was eventually passed on to the 4.3 Group, and from then on, we started experimenting with the form of exhibitions ourselves.’
_The Mokchon Architecture Archive, Oral history publication of the 4·3 Group, MATI BOOKS, 2014, pp. 112; 115.
Joh Sungyong: Gallery MA asked us to provide a video. At the time, we were still using slide projectors with films, and video cameras weren’t readily available in Korea. Meanwhile, in Japan, architectural and design-focused galleries were emerging, and Korean architects were being invited to exhibit in these spaces, albeit on a small scale. The three of us – Kim Incheurl, Kim Kiseok, and I – were all young and relatively unknown at the time. However, as Japan was searching for a new generation of Korean architects following Kim Swoo Geun and Kim Chung-up, we were invited as Korean representatives, which generated considerable interest in Japan. These moments are part of history and should be well archived. I regret that we haven’t arranged that from the beginning.
Kim Jeoungeun: Do you think the ‘Echoes of an Era’ exhibition by the 4.3 Group held in 1992 also influenced the trajectory of architectural exhibitions in Korea?
Joh Sungyong: The ‘Echoes of an Era’ exhibition was a private initiative. What I want to discuss now is national and societal exhibitions. At a national level, it is important to examine what happened during different periods, how those experiences were connected or disappeared over time. In 2006, as a Korean architect, I thought, ‘We cannot just stand still because we are unprepared. It will be difficult, but I will do what I can’. That’s the mindset I had at the time.
On entering the Korean Pavilion, visitors will find models and videos of five regions created through collaborative work. These collaborative works play a pivotal role in the exhibition and are juxtaposed with Kim Seunghoy’s Constellation and Time Layers, which captures the five regions from minute perspectives.
The 10th Architecture Exhibition in 2006
Kim Jeoungeun: Richard Burdett, the director, is a professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He introduced the theme ‘Cities: Architecture and Society’. It was a year when the focus shifted from an architectural theme to an urban and societal one. Did you have any discussions at the time with the director about the theme?
Joh Sungyong: Most Korean architects went to the U.S. to study abroad, after all. Burdett, as an urban theorist, exerted theoretical influence primarily in the European sphere, particularly in the U.K. Since he had limited connection to those in the American architectural field, not many people in Korea were familiar with him. I wasn’t well-acquainted with him either. However, as discussions on urban issues were becoming more prevalent and scholars were increasingly interested, I thought, ‘Perhaps we should pay attention to this as well.’
Kim Jeoungeun: In 2002, you participated in the Korean Pavilion at the International Architecture Exhibition with ‘Retail Blocks in Paju Book City’ project as a participating artist.
Joh Sungyong: Among my previous works, I find completed projects like the Uijae Museum of Korean Art and Seonyudo Park, but why did I choose to exhibit a commercial block?
Kim Jeoungeun: I heard that the commissioner Kimm Jong Soung selected various projects in Paju, near the Demilitarized Zone, under the assumption that the Korean Peninsula would be unified within a decade.
Joh Sungyong: That makes sense, since the Korean Pavilion represents a national perspective rather than an individual architect’s distinguished work, and the exhibition had to consider how we should respond to the changing times.
Kim Jeoungeun: In 1996 and 2002, the exhibitions featured nationally significant projects and pre-existing by (...)
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1 The Union Internationales des Architectes (UIA) was established on 28 June 1948, in Lausanne, Switzerland, following the merger of the Comité Permanent International des Architectes and the Réunion International des Architectes. Headquartered in Paris, the UIA is recognised as the sole global architectural organisation by most UN agencies, including UNESCO, UN-Habitat, the World Health Organization, ECOSOC, UNIDO, and WTO. Republic of Korea joined the UIA in 1963, and until the 20th UIA Congress in 1999, the Korea Institute of Architects (KIA) was the only official counterpart of UIA in Korea.
2 Joh Sungyong recalls first meeting Chung Guyon in 1992 through Architects Association for the Future. Chung was also involved in the Seoul School of Architecture (sa) movement alongside Joh Sungyong, Min Hyunsik, Seung H-Sang, and Kim Youngsub. Mokchon Architecture Archive, Oral history publication of 4·3 Group, MATI BOOKS, 2014, pp. 139; 235 – 236.
3 In 1949, the National Art Exhibition (Gukjeon) was established, and in 1955, an architecture division was added to showcase works. After Gukjeon was discontinued in 1982, it was rebranded as the Korea Architecture Exhibition, organised by the Korea Institute of Architects and supported by the Korea Culture and Arts Foundation (currently Arts Council Korea), the Architectural Institute of Korea, and the Korea Institute of Registered Architects. The Korea Architecture Exhibition became a major annual event in the Korean architectural community, where panels and models were displayed, focusing on wall-based presentations. This exhibition format, incorporating panels and models, was influenced by early Western modern architectural exhibitions that positioned architecture within the realm of visual arts, such as painting and sculpture, and it has remained a fundamental format in Korean architectural exhibitions since its inception. Currently, the event includes an open competition and the 100 Architects of the Year International Invitational Exhibition. Yoon Jungyeon, Korean Architectural Discourse in Transition: Seen through Architectural Exhibitions of the Early 1990s, Master’s Thesis, Soongsil University, 2014, p. 12.
4 ‘On October 2, 1981, an article from the Dong-A Ilbo stated, “Like it or not, Korea will now be exposed to the world for the seven years leading up to 1988 ... The country must appear shameless even when scrutinising attention is directed to unexpected corners. By hosting the Olympics, Korea is voluntarily entering the show window of the world” Seoulites were required to assume an outside gaze, preparing everything up to standard accordingly.’ Park Junghyun, ‘Olympic Facade: Face, Mask, Elevation’, in Olympic Effect: Korean Architecture and Design from the 1980s to the 1990s, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, 2021, p. 24; ‘While our architecture will be chasing the 1988 Olympics for the time being, I hope this period fosters a culture where we can discuss whether we are truly presenting something comprehensive and meaningful in our architecture.’ Yoon Seungjoong, Kang Kunhee, Kim Won, Kim Hongsik and Lee Beom-Jae, ‘Conversation 2: What are Important and Impressive Architecture of 1970s?’, SPACE No. 174 (Dec. 1981), p. 23.)
5 ‘Modern Korean architecture is surprisingly little known in Japan. However, a third generation of architects has firmly established itself beyond the legacy of Kim Chung-up and Kim Swoo Geun. This exhibition features three architects – Kim Ki Seok, Joe Sung Yong, Kim In Cheurl – who are seen as leaders of this third generation. The exhibition questions how Korea expresses its cultural identity and tradition within contemporary living spaces. While offering a glimpse into the fresh currents of modern Korean architecture, it also provides significant insights for us.’ This description of the exhibition is currently archived on the Gallery MA’s website (https://jp.toto.com/gallerma/hist/ja/exhibi/kim-jo.htm).
