Rabbit Inhabits the Moon

The MAO Museo d’Arte Orientale, Turin is presenting the exhibition Rabbit Inhabits the Moon, curated by Davide Quadrio, director of the museum, and Joanne Kim, Korean critic and curator, with Anna Musini and Francesca Filisetti. Curatorial and scholarly contributions were made by Manuela Moscatiello (Chargée d’étude, Maison de Victor Hugo, Paris), Kyoo Lee (curator for the shamanism room, Professor of Philosophy, City University of New York) and Patrizio Peterlini (director of Fondazione Bonotto).

The exhibition Rabbit Inhabits the Moon revolves around the figure of Nam June Paik (Seoul, 1932–Miami, 2006), one of the most important artists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and a pioneer of video art. Trained as a pianist and musicologist, Paik explored technological progress in his works, using a mixed language that combined mass media and the customs of western capitalistic and commercial society with the rituals of the Korean poetry and music and the country’s cultural and shamanic traditions.

As inferred by the title, the literary topos of the rabbit in the moon, common to many cultures in the Far East—China, Japan, Korea—as well as Central Asia, Iran and Turkey, is the starting point from which the exhibition’s other themes naturally branch off. Inspired by the eponymous installation by Paik from 1996, in which a wooden rabbit looks at an image of the moon on a television screen, in this exhibition reality and imagination, tradition and technology meet, repeat and mirror each other, in a synthesis of content that emerges as the exhibition unfolds, through a complex game of references and reinterpretations.

Following the curatorial work that MAO is carrying on, this immersive exhibition design continues to highlight the coexistence of symbols, techniques, materials and objects from different times and places, creating an itinerary free of fixed chronological coordinates in which themes move in parallel, intersect, and cyclically re-emerge, like in a piece of woven fabric.

In dialogue with Paik’s works, Rabbit Inhabits the Moon presents pieces by contemporary Korean artists, ranging from sound compositions to video and installations, exploring how tradition can be reinterpreted and reimagined. The exhibition is further enriched by the inclusion of Korean artifacts, on loan from renowned institutions such as the Musée Guimet in Paris, the Museo d’Arte Orientale ‘E. Chiossone’ in Genoa, and the Museo delle Civiltà in Rome, spanning from the 10th to the 20th century. These artifacts, including ancient maps, paintings, and ceramics, not only trace Korea’s rich historical and artistic development but also highlight the cultural continuity between past and present, as well as the intercultural exchanges that bridge the Eastern and Western worlds.

A central aspect of the project is the sonic and performative dimension, evident in both Paik’s work and that of the invited artists. This offers a diverse vision of contemporary artistic practices embracing concepts of sound, space, and body.

The participating artists include: bela, Gloria Campaner, Park Chan-ho, Jesse Chun, Kwon Dae-sup, eobchae x Ryu Sungsil, Giorgia Fincato, Sun Hee You, Park Jiha, Shiu Jin, Ahn Kyuchul, Diana Lola Posani, Francesca “Heart” Mariano, Sunmin Park, Hyunhye (Angela) Seo.

For the opening on October 18, MAO, in collaboration with the Mercato Centrale, will host the Korean group GOOSEUNG whose acrobatic and spectacular performances reinterpret musical forms such as the Samul nori with an engaging approach.

This exhibition celebrates the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and Italy and is organized in partnership with Nam June Paik Art Center (Yongin, Korea), the Fondazione Bonotto (Colceresa, Italy) and with the support from the Korea Foundation.