ZIP

Participating artists: Kim Yun Shin, Park Yoonja, Hahn Ai-Kyu, Rho Si-Eun, Joohyun Kim, Meekyoung Shin, Jinah Roh, Soyoung Chung, Munkyung Chung, Omyo Cho, Hyejin Jo, Taeyeon Kim, Leap Lee, Hyeyeon Seo, Khia Hong, Park So Yeon

ZIP began as an effort to understand sculpture and sculptors by staying true to the basic elements of sculpture: material, form, and physicality/materiality. Based on this universal and expansive ground, the curatorial team—consisting of a sculptor, an art historian, and an independent curator—brings together 16 sculptors, with specific attention to Korean women sculptors. The 16 sculptors range from a first generation sculptor in her 80s to emerging artists in their 20s. Their diverse and dynamic sculptural universes collide and diverge, from explorations of traditional sculptural materials, technology, and the immaterial to sculptural materiality itself and narrative forms.

The exhibition title, ZIP, metaphorically refers to the gathering of sixteen sculptural experiments like a ZIP file, and the interweaving of sculptors across generations to bring together and map out the contemporary art scene of Korean sculpture, like a zipper. The material that a sculptor adopts conveys meaning beyond being a mere medium of expression; they maintain intimate relationships with each other. As a sculptor creates forms and shapes in direct response to the material, they may reveal or conceal its inherent materiality in the process. In such sculptural exploration, traces of creation that extend beyond the sculptor’s intention accumulate, suggesting a narrative of the process by which the work was created.

The participating artists communicated extensively with the curatorial team to explain and dissect their ways of working with their materials, as well as their intentions and experiences with form and materiality. The exhibition provides texts that highlight the materials of the sculptures, and the technical process of their creation. Through this, ZIP hope to help viewers focus on the fundamental elements of sculpture.

Although approaching sculpture from its material and materiality has been attempted since the 1970s in Korea, investigating with attention to Korean women sculptors remains a territory with possibilities. With the anachronistic illumination of its potential, the exhibition seeks to unfold the sixteen sculptors and their sculptures in a contemporary context.

Curator: Choi TaeHoon
Associate Curator: Minzi Kang, Susie Bang
Graphic Design: Gu
Translation: Jennifer Choi

Thanks to Lee WoongBin.

Supported by Arts Council Korea.
In cooperation with ARKO Art Center.
Hosted by Choi TaeHoon.
Organized by <ZIP> (Minzi Kang, Susie Bang, Choi TaeHoon).