Moon Kyungwon & Jeon Joonho with Urban-Think Tank: News from Nowhere: Zurich Laboratory

The Korean artists Moon Kyungwon & Jeon Joonho create works that address elemental questions concerning contemporary civilization in light of political, socioeconomic, and ecological changes. The exhibition project News from Nowhere, which they jointly initiated in 2012, is premised on a post-apocalyptic scenario: humanity has been wiped out almost entirely and is forced to reconsider long-held convictions that may no longer be tenable. The project premiered at Documenta 13 and is designed as a steadily evolving ensemble. Moon & Jeon have established an interdisciplinary and participatory platform on which renowned experts from the fields of product and fashion design, architecture, urban planning, and medical and biotechnology research discuss the urgent issues of our time with the audience. For their exhibition News from Nowhere: Zurich Laboratory at the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Moon & Jeon collaborate with the team at Urban-Think Tank, who hold a chair at ETH Zurich. U-TT is a leading think tank for urban design and sustainable and social architecture. Together with the artists, they developed the idea of a mobile agora that also underlies the exhibition architecture. Movable stands for the spectators transform the gallery space into a scene of communication and interaction that extends beyond the museum’s walls. The design is based on the agora of classical antiquity, which was not only an important place of assembly, but also served to constitute community and identity. A second partner in the exhibition project’s engagement with questions of space is ETH Zurich’s Future Cities Laboratory. In its online seminars, which are freely accessible at no charge, scientists and participants discuss the future and development potential of cities around the world.

The works of the artist duo Moon Kyungwon & Jeon Joonho are currently on view in the Korean pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale. Their art has been presented at the Fukuoka Triennale (2014), the Sullivan Galleries of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2013), Documenta 13, the Gwangju Biennale (both 2012), the Moscow Biennale, and the Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts (both 2010). Prior to 2010, both artists individually showed their work in numerous solo and group exhibitions.

The exhibition is curated by Heike Munder (director, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst). A companion book including contributions by Joe Jeong Hwan, Heike Munder, Tobias Peper, and Urban-Think Tank (Alfredo Brillembourg, Hubert Klumpner, Daniel Schwartz) will be published by JRP|Ringier.