SPACE July 2025 (No. 692)
Audience listening to Franco Mancuso’s presentation at the forum. Image courtesy of Arts Council Korea / ©Choi Jinbo
‘Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.’: 2025 Venice Biennale | Korean Pavilion
On the afternoon of the 9th of May, when the Korean Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Biennale officially opened, a commemorative forum marking the 30th anniversary of the Pavilion’s establishment was held at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice, hosted by Arts Council Korea. As a venue long cherished for laying on the Korean Pavilion’s official dinners, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, remodeled by the 20th-century Venetian master architect, Carlo Scarpa, provided a deeply meaningful backdrop to this collective reflection on the Pavilion’s legacy.
Entitled ‘Vision & Legacy: 30 Years of the Korean Pavilion’, the forum was moderated by Choon Choi (professor, Seoul National University), and opened with congratulatory remarks from Song Si Kyeong (director general of the secretariat, Arts Council Korea) and Sebastiano Costalonga (councillor for trade and productive activities, Venice City).
Representing CAC, Chung Dahyoung (co-director, CAC) delivered the keynote presentation, outlining the curatorial ambitions behind the exhibition ‘Little Toad Little Toad: Unbuilding Pavilion’ and offered a vision of the future Korean Pavilion. Chung explained that, in preparing for the 30th anniversary, they surveyed a wide variety of artworks and ideas that had been situated between the Pavilion’s walls. This led them to reimagine this space not as a ‘neutral monument’ but as a ‘living entity’ composed of layered time—an idea that found expression in the exhibition. Furthermore, by visually striking through the ‘COREA’ sign in front of the Pavilion, they proposed a dissolution of the North–South division and envisioned a new Korean Pavilion as a borderless, shared platform within the Giardini.
Reception dinner marking the opening of the Korean Pavilion, held in the Garden of the Fondazione Querini Stampalia. Image courtesy of Arts Council Korea / ©Choi Jinbo
Before delving into the history of the Korean Pavilion, the forum began with a presentation by Marco Mulazzani (professor, University of Ferrara) who provided an overview of the history of the Giardini. Renowned as a leading authority on national pavilions at the Venice Biennale, Mulazzani is the author of key publications such as Guide to the Pavilions of the Venice Biennale since 1887 (1988) and I padiglioni della Biennale di Venezia (2004), both of which focus on the architecture and exhibition history of the national pavilions constructed within the Giardini. In his presentation, he retraced the development of the Giardini, from the moment it became the official venue of the National Art Exhibition in 1887 to the construction of the Italian Pavilion (now the Central Pavilion) in 1895. He described how, over the decades, countries have continuously added, demolished, and rebuilt their national pavilions within this context, and he emphasised the fact that the exhibitions in national pavilions and the Giardini itself – as both an institution and a physical site – constitute a unique, ongoing event spanning many decades. Thus, rather than simply celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Korean Pavilion, he stressed the importance of critically and responsibly carrying forward its legacy, as well as being informed by its history. It was a moment that prompted reflection on the historical weight the Korean Pavilion bears as a member of the Giardini.
Next, Franco Mancuso (former professor, Universita Iuav di Venezia), co-architect of the Korean Pavilion, recounted the early design process. He detailed how his partnership with Kim Seok Chul and his relationship with Korea began, enabling Korea to become the last 20th-century Giardini pavilion project within a remarkably short time, and how they embarked on their design work even though there were almost no guidelines.
Kimm Jong Soung, Rinio Bruttomesso presenting at the forum. Images courtesy of Arts Council Korea / ©Choi Jinbo
Mancuso noted that, in the early 1990s, Giardini offered no vacant plots, and securing permit approval seemed nearly impossible. Yet, the Korean side’s determination and the strong support of the Venice mayor at the time, Massimo Cacciari, proved decisive. The cultural boost from Nam June Paik’s Golden Lion in 1993 also raised Korea’s international profile. The city agreed that, so long as the design met their conditions, they would provide a site for the pavilion.
He vividly described the process that followed after the final design – a structure lifted off the ground to create a light and open spatial experience – was selected amid the severe constraints of limited space, budget, and the city’s strict requirement not to disturb tree roots, and recalled how he had to urgently redraw every structural component from scratch, alternating between computer and hand drawings due to the extreme time pressure. He stressed that the 7th of June, 1995, the day the Korean Pavilion was due to open, was an immensely significant and proud moment for him, as the complex construction was completed on schedule using Italian materials and craftsmanship. Lastly, he stressed that the Pavilion was named ‘Padiglione Corea’, not ‘Padiglione Corea del Sud’, to reflect a longing for peace and reunification of the entire Korean Peninsula, not just the South.
Marco Mulazzani, Chung Dahyoung presenting at the forum. Images courtesy of Arts Council Korea / ©Choi Jinbo
Next came a presentation from Cho Minsuk (principal, MASS STUDIES), who led the Korean Pavilion to win the Golden Lion at the 2014 Venice Biennale. He revisited the curatorial vision and realisation of the exhibition ‘Crow’s Eye View: The Korean Peninsula’, which inherited and creatively reinterpreted the legacy of the Korean Pavilion. Under the guiding theme ‘Absorbing Modernity: 1914 – 2014’ proposed by Rem Koolhaas, the director of that year’s biennale, Cho initially sought to stage a joint North–South Korean exhibition, noting that between 1914 and 1948 – the time frame designated by Koolhaas – South Korea as we know it today did not yet exist. As such, focusing only on the South would only be telling half the story. This led him to pay special attention to the fact that the Pavilion was named Corea, not Corea del Sud, when it was built in 1995; and although it was ultimately not possible to collaborate directly with North Korea, he curated an exhibition that addressed both the North and the South through the involvement of artists, architects, and collectors with foreign citizenships who could engage with North Korean material. He recalled that receiving an unexpected photo of the North Korean ambassador to Italy visiting the exhibition a month after its opening was cause for even greater joy than winning the Golden Lion itself—an experience that reaffirmed the spirit of inclusion and reconciliation that the 2014 Korean Pavilion had hoped to convey.
Franco Mancuso, Cho Minsuk presenting at the forum. Images courtesy of Arts Council Korea / ©Choi Jinbo
The final part of the forum was dedicated to the late architect Kim Seok Chul, co-architect of the Korean Pavilion. Based on a deep friendship with Kim, Rinio Bruttomesso (former professor, Universita Iuav di Venezia) offered a thoughtful reflection on his architectural philosophy, structuring it around three themes: ‘Aquapolis’, ‘New Cities’, and ‘International Dimension’. Kim regarded Venice as an ideal model and sought to reactivate Seoul’s waterways —an intention clearly expressed in his 2000 Korean Pavilion exhibition at the Venice Biennale.In 2004, he participated in the main exhibition and is said to have designed the first ever floating pavilion in the history of the Biennale. Bruttomesso concluded with Kim’s utopian vision for a ‘Tumen-River Multi-national City’ in the border region between China, Russia, and North Korea – a project he pursued even while battling illness – and remembered him as a visionary who always looked to the future and believed in architecture’s power to resolve international conflict.
Finally, Kimm Jong Soung (honorary chairman, SAC International, Ltd.), who served as commissioner of the Korean Pavilion at the 2002 Venice Biennale, concluded the forum with a comment that brought together all the presentations. He recalled humming the Little Toad Little Toad – quoted in the 2025 Korean Pavilion exhibition – when he was young, and he spoke about the importance of building a new future upon the 30-year legacy of the Korean Pavilion. He then shared memories of his time with late Kim Seok Chul and recounted his rare experience as a South Korean architect visiting North Korea, delivering a heartwarming message of solidarity connecting past and present, South and North, architecture and people.
After the forum, attendees moved to a dinner hosted by the CAC in the Garden of the Fondazione Querini Stampalia. There, not only the current Korean Pavilion exhibition team and participating artists, but architects, curators, and editors from various countries gathered to enjoy the evening. Perhaps it is precisely this vibrant spirit of exchange – transcending nationalities and disciplines – that signals the future of the Korean Pavilion. Beyond its physical structure, the next chapter of the Korean Pavilion is unfolding in the connections established between visitors and a strong stance of solidarity with the world.
Hand drawings of the Korean Pavilion by Mancuso. Image courtesy of Arts Council Korea / From presentation material of Franco Mancuso
A spread page from the Italian architecture journal Documenti featuring the Seoul Arts Center by late Kim Seok Chul. Image courtesy of Arts Council Korea / From presentation material of Franco Mancuso
