Heemin Chung in Folding Acts Group Exhibition at Coreana Museum of Art
Folding Acts is a curated exhibition originating from the inquiry of 'Museum as Laboratory', the thematic focus of the Coreana Museum of Art's multidisciplinary arts programme, *c-lab 9.0. Bringing together the works of three of the most compelling artists in the current visual and multidisciplinary arts in Korea—Heemin Chung (painting, sculpture, video), Yunjung Lee (performance, wall drawing, video), and Sungoo Im (drawing, installation)—this exhibition represents a definitive attempt to manifest the concept of the 'Museum as Laboratory'. It redefines the museum not merely as a space for display, but as a 'site of experimentation' where bodily contemplation is generated.
This exhibition reflects the museum as a vibrant field of practice where thought emerges through the body. Here, the body, image, and material serve not as mere vehicles for fixed meanings, but as conditions for action that test and transform one another. The exhibition extends the interpretation of 'performativity' beyond the confines of performance art, identifying it as a fundamental principle that permeates the entirety of drawing, painting, installation, video, and archive.
In this context, drawing functions as a record of density left by the repetitive movements of the hand; painting as a structure revealing layers of time and material thickness; and sculpture as a sensory device designed to orchestrate the viewer's movement. Performance and archives, too, transcend mere documentation, presented instead as open structures that remain ready to be reenacted at any moment.
Folding Acts is a narrative concerning the body—crumpled, overlapped, and folded. The body is perpetually renewed through its relationships, materials, and internal rules. Today, the museum is evolving beyond a space for the passive reception of visual images into a laboratory where bodies and objects activate one another. Moving beyond 'an exhibition to be seen' towards 'an exhibition that operates', this project invites us to reconsider the fundamental role of the museum.
