Korean Cultural Center in Paris to reopen with contemporary art exhibitions

The Korean Cultural Center in Paris will reopen next week with a contemporary art exhibition titled “Real DMZ Project: Negotiating Borders,” after it shut down in March due to the spread of COVID-19.

The exhibition will run from Sept. 11 to Nov. 6.

“The COVID-19 situation is still bad, but we will reopen our center to invigorate the daily lives of art lovers in France,” a Korean Cultural Center Paris official said in a statement.

The special exhibition aims to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean War and is to be held jointly at the Korean Cultural Center and at Fondation Fiminco in Paris, an art foundation run by the French commercial real estate company Groupe Fiminco.

The exhibition is based on research on the Demilitarized Zone and the surrounding area by artists, architects, designers and scholars.

The Korean Cultural Center in Paris explained that the project reflects the reality of how the Korean Peninsula is divided in two by the Demilitarized Zone.

Fondation Fiminco will mainly showcase works that show what North and South Korea have created to maintain the current status quo and also the irony of the two Koreas’ reality.

The Korean Cultural Center in Paris will show contemporary artworks that imagine the North and South Korea of the future.

Works by Ham Kyung-ah, Seung Hyo-sang and Zoh Kyung-jin will be displayed at the Korean Cultural Center in Paris while works by Back Seung-woo, Chung So-young and Jane Jin Keisen will be displayed at Fondation Fiminco.

Meanwhile, the center will open an exhibition titled “Data-Distance Refraction” on Sept. 3, featuring works by installation artist Jung Seung. Jung Seung’s exhibition will mainly display works created for “The Prometheus’s String,” a project the artist has been working on since 2016.

By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heraldcorp.com)