Bang Geul Han: Land of Tenderness

The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation is pleased to present Land of Tenderness, a solo exhibition by multidisciplinary NYC-based South Korean artist Bang Geul Han. Opening on March 16 from 6–8pm at The 8th Floor (RSVP), it presents part one of Terre de Tendre, a new virtual reality work and accompanying immersive video installation. The work is loosely based on the Carte du Tendre: a map created by a group of women in 17th century France that charts the path towards true love through an imagined land.

The simulated landscape is embedded with text generated by an artificial intelligence system trained on legislation and court rulings concerning immigration and borders, as well as firsthand accounts of migrant children’s journeys and experiences. The work uses virtual reality technologies to interrogate themes of interdependency, memory, empathy, and care among human and non-human agents, in order to approach and reframe questions concerning the ongoing migration crisis.

Land of Tenderness also features recent works across a variety of media, with an emphasis on legislative changes including the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and the difficult decisions it leaves for the most vulnerable among us in its wake.

Born and raised in Seoul, Korea in 1978 and based in the US since 2003, Bang Geul Han’s work has been shown in venues including The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Queens Museum, NURTUREart, A.I.R. Gallery, Cuchifritos Gallery in New York City, and Centro Internazionale per l’Arte Contemporanea in Rome. She is a recipient of a number of artist residencies and fellowships including Artist in the Marketplace (AIM) program at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Workspace program, A.I.R. Fellowship, MacDowell Fellowship, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and Center for Emerging Visual Artists in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Han received her MFA (2005) in Electronic Integrated Arts from NYSCC at Alfred University in Alfred, New York and BFA (2002) in Painting from Seoul National University in Korea.

Land of Tenderness is curated by Anjuli Nanda Diamond and George Bolster, with spring programming to be announced soon (mailing list). The ongoing development of Terre de Tendre is supported by a 2023 Creative Capital award. To learn more about Land of Tenderness and Bang Geul Han, please read the full press release here.

*Image description: A woman with hair hiding her face lying horizontally on a bed, semi-covered with woven grayscale printed paper.