Crystallize
As part of the South Korean state visit (welcome president Park), a venue was held in the Old Billingsgate along the landmarks of Thames. On the ground floor were displaying cultural / industrial products from Korea, naturally headed by multiple images of Psy (Gangnam Style). Hidden under this exciting crowd was a very unique exhibition called Crystallize, brought together young artists from both UK and Korea.
The works included a movie reel made from weaving (Sam Meech), a circle sketch in laser traveling through mirrors (Dave Ogle), Voyeurism of public facilities (Terry Ryu), frozen sculpture made of children’s milk tooth (Gina Czarnecki), floating images of the circus (Je Baak), grand panorama of growing crystal (Semiconductor), and of course with a climax of Nam June Paik’s Satelite Telecast.
For an architect who had to design the backdrop for this exhibition, the architecture had to disappear into the dark like ghosts, while the work themselves floated in the mid-air like apparition or memories. There was no beautiful façade or sexy furniture to put it out there, but only invisible elements that still had to lead people and locate the art works in prime locations. As we designed this with the curator Stephanie Kim, we had to break all our preconception about space. It reminded me of the old studio held in GSD in 2003 by Rem Koolhaas called “invisible architecture” where everyone was digging under.
Here are some images from fabulous 3 days exhibition.
