SPACE March 2025 (No. 688)
Poster of ‘Little Toad Little Toad: Unbuilding Pavilion’ Poster design by Kim Yuna
In 2025, marking the 30th anniversary of the Korean Pavilion’s construction in the Giardini, the professional architectural curation collective CAC (Curating Architecture Collective) was appointed as curator. When CAC entered the competition to select the curator for the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2025, they proposed the theme ‘House of Trees’, highlighting trees as a critical element in the history of Venice, the Giardini, and the Korean Pavilion itself to herald this landmark anniversary. That initial concept has since evolved into what is now titled ‘Little Toad Little Toad: Unbuilding the Pavilion’. We sat down with CAC to learn about their plans for the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2025, including their earliest ideas for the exhibition, how those ideas took shape over roughly a year of preparations, and how the final exhibition will ultimately be presented.
interview Chung Dahyoung, Kim Heejung, Jung Sungkyu co-directors, CAC × Kim Bokyoung
Kim Bokyoung: This year’s exhibition at the Korean Pavilion of the Venice Biennale shines a spotlight on the untold stories of the Korean Pavilion’s construction and design, re-evaluating a space that has often been underestimated as an exhibition venue. At the same time, by rediscovering the pavilion’s sustainability credentials, it broadens the narrative from the Korean Pavilion to a universal story that could be applied not only to the Giardini – where the national pavilions are located – but to the Venice Biennale as a whole, and ultimately to the city of Venice. As an architectural curator, you likely had an abundance of ideas and angles you wanted to explore. What led you, at this particular moment, to conceive and plan this kind of exhibition?
Chung Dahyoung: All three of us share the same interests, and as architectural curators, our focus on a building’s lifespan or its temporal dimension naturally shaped this exhibition. We often concentrate only on the moment a building is completed, then lose interest. While the fact that the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale is celebrating its 30th anniversary is significant, we also wanted to consider its entire lifespan, from the past through the ensuing three decades. Moreover, we believe a building’s lifespan continues even after demolition. This exhibition grew out of our ongoing reflections following completion, the time before completion, and the time after a building disappears. ...
