Lee Kang-So: Where the Wind Meets the Water On view at Seoul Box, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Seoul

The museum will be open until 9pm on 4 September 2024 for Frieze Samcheong Night. 

Lee Kang So (b. 1943) is a prominent experimental artist who led Korea’s contemporary art movement in the 1970s through his involvement in pioneering groups and exhibitions such as Shincheje (New System, 1969-1976), AG (1969-1975), Seoul Biennale (1974), and Ecole de Seoul (1975-1999). From 1974 to 1979, Lee organized Daegu Contemporary Art Festival, which laid the groundwork for experimental contemporary artists to work actively  across the country. He continued his international activities by participating in major events such as the 9th Paris Biennial (1975), the 2nd Biennale of Sydney (1976), the 10th International Biennial Exhibition of Prints in Tokyo (1976), and the 14th São Paulo Biennial (1977). He was also the first Korean artist to join the MoMA PS1 National and International Studio Program (1991-1992). Throughout his career, Lee has sought to establish a unique philosophical and artistic approach to Korean contemporary art, distinct from Western art history. Lee has worked across various media including installation, sculpture, painting, printmaking, video, and  photography, consistently questioning different ways of perceiving the world. His conceptual experiments with  images, texts, and objects suggest that there is no singular truth within the diverse experiences and memories that  shape our world and that everything creates its own virtual time and space within the world it perceives.

Works on view:

Disappearance, 1973/2024. Tables, chairs, display case, standing boards, makgeolli, Dimensions variable.* In collaboration with OURLABOUR 

Disappearance was showcased in Lee Kang So’s first solo exhibition at Myondong Gallery in 1973. The artist  transformed a gallery space into a functioning bar for a week, using tables and chairs from an old bar. The work  was based on Lee’s reflections during a visit to the bar. While conversing with a senior colleague, the traces of  wear on these aged furnishings caught his eye, leading him to see these ordinary pieces of furniture as special  objects imbued with experiences and memories of the past. Lee realized that everyone—himself, his senior, other  visitors, and even the tables and chairs—would experience and remember that moment differently, with their  memories constantly shifting. To share this insightful experience, he purchased all the furniture and displayed it in  the gallery, transforming an ordinary bar scene into a work of art. A sign reading “Process Art” was featured during  the exhibition, signifying that the art was in the process of being created. 

The MMCA Seoul Box presents Disappearance alongside furniture reinterpreted in a contemporary context by  OURLABOUR. Mirrors have been added to the installation, allowing participants to simultaneously experience  multiple perspectives of themselves, others, and the displayed objects. This serves as a reminder that we all  coexist in a virtual world, like a metaverse, with different memories and interpretations. According to the artist,  this installation aims to create “a place where art facilitates shared experiences, rather than merely expressing something,” where the work is completed through the interactions and memories participants bring into it.   

Memory of Trees-1, 2009, 2009, Mixed media, Each 300 x 150 x 150 cm

Memory of Trees-1 was created from remnants of the ancient Bunhwangsa Temple, which the artist found  abandoned during a visit to Gyeongju and decided to acquire. Drawing on his childhood memories of visiting Gyeongju and the temple, as well as his deep affection for hanok (traditional Korean houses) and historic buildings,  the artist was inspired by the aged wood that has accumulated memories over centuries at this historic site. The  installation comprises three entasis columns and a lintel (a beam that spans the top of windows or doors) from the  temple’s bell pavilion, resembling a dismantled house with its internal structural elements exposed. Visitors are  invited to walk around these columns imbued with the aura of the ancient temple, moving between the interior  and exterior spaces while reading and imagining the memories held within the aged wood.

In the Seoul Box, the twin columns arranged in the same configuration are reflected in mirrors mounted on the  walls, causing their image to multiply from two to four, then to eight. The mirrored reflections blur the boundary  between the real and the virtual as the memories of the ancient trees drift between the viewers and the artwork,  continually reshaping themselves with each new interaction. This work, centered on the theme of the memory of  trees, embodies the artist’s insight that the distinction between human and non-human perception is questioned,  that objective reality does not exist, and that the essence of all things is continually altered by experience and  memory.  

Discussion, 1994/2024, Single-channel video, colour, sound, 16 min. 3 sec.

This work captures intense discussion among hundreds of Tibetan Buddhist monks that Lee happened upon during  his trip to Tibet in 2006. In Tibetan Buddhism, discussion is a crucial part of monastic education, where monks  refine their views through exchanges of questions and answers. This practice serves as a process of transcending  self-centered thinking, moving beyond the ego by engaging in dialogue with others rather than remaining confined to self-assumed perspectives. The artist, who had a strong interest in Neo-Confucianism and Buddhism, both of  which explore the workings of the mind as the agent of thought and action, was deeply moved by this scene and  decided to document it on video. The footage features monks debating, clapping, and exchanging statements. As  with any search for truth, the image is blurred, and the conversations are a buzz of incomprehensible languages.  Yet, these unclear sounds and visuals will be expanded into an ever-evolving multiverse within viewers’ imagination. 

Serenity – 21021, 2021, Acrylic on canvas, Each 260 x 400 cm

This large-scale painting from the Serenity series unfolds across a 12-meter canvas with figures reminiscent of  calligraphic techniques. The sweeping brushstrokes, infused with the energy of “serenity,” may appear as letters or  abstract shapes, stirring a desire in viewers to decipher their meaning. However, these calligraphic figures carry no specific narrative or image; they are simply the outcome of the artist’s spontaneous gestures, personal energy, and interaction with the environment. This approach offers viewers ample room for interpretation, allowing the work  to be continually redefined through different perspectives. The dynamic, single-stroke lines and the boldly unfilled  spaces highlight the beauty of lines and the aesthetics of emptiness. By setting aside intentional purpose, the artist  channels vital energy through the brush, seeking to merge his inner self, the tool, and the surrounding  environment in that moment of creation. Through these deliberately meaningless brushstrokes, Lee strives to  break free from the traditional boundaries of calligraphy and painting.