Architect Kim Won donates artworks to help NGO

Architect Kim Won has put up for sale some significant pieces from his collection of art to help raise funds for an NGO for which he serves as a chief director.

Among the 50 works donated by Kim that are on sale at Gallery Now in Seoul are ink paintings by architect Kim Swoo-guen (1931-1986), a prominent contemporary architect. The architect gave the paintings to Kim Won as a gift a year before his death. Kim Won was Kim Swoo-guen’s protege. 

“Kim Swoo-guen began contemporary architecture in Korea. It was a great thing to join his team upon graduating college in 1965,” Kim said. Along with his teacher, Kim took part in designing the Korean Pavilion at Expo 67 held in Montreal, Canada in 1967.

The funds raised will go to the Seoul-based Project Management for International Cooporation, which helps vaccinate children in North Korea against hepatitis B. Founded in 2010, the organization has partnered with the German Caritas Association.

A total of 3.8 million North Korean children have been vaccinated, according to the NGO. But such activities have been suspended after the UN imposed stronger sanctions against North Korea in 2019.

On display at Gallery Now is a poster of video art founder Paik Nam-june’s “The More, The Better,” which was installed at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, in 1988. Kim contributed to creating Paik’s monumental work as an architect, mapping out the feasibility of setting up the work that consist of 1,004 CRT monitors.

A total of 70 donated works are on display, and can be purchased through Saturday at Gallery Now in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul.

By Park Yuna (yunapark@heraldcorp.com)