DMZ art show reframes Korea's divided landscape
PAJU, Gyeonggi Province — Nine chairs stand in a loose circle, but none offers a proper place to sit. Some lack legs or backrests, while others have lost their seats. For artist Ahn Kyu-chul, these broken objects capture the contradictions of life and shared conditions of loss on both sides of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). He dismantled eight intact chairs and created the last chair from the…
Paju, Gyeonggi Province - Nine chairs are arranged in a loose circle, each one broken in some way. Some are missing legs or a backrest, while others have lost their seats entirely. Artist Ahn Kyu-chul created these chairs by dismantling eight functional ones and using the discarded pieces to form the ninth, leaving all nine unable to serve their intended purpose.
During a press walk-through, Ahn explained that this absurd, irrational situation of breaking perfectly good chairs to create a ninth broken one is reminiscent of the DMZ. He further stated that it also symbolizes the incompleteness of people living on both sides of the DMZ. "Nine Chairs" serves as the starting point for "DMZ Open Exhibition: Staging," which opened on Monday at Camp Greaves and Imjingak Pyeonghwa Nuri in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.
This exhibition, jointly hosted by Gyeonggi Province and the city of Paju, showcases 26 works by 14 Korean and international artists.
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- DMZ art show reframes Korea's divided landscape koreatimes.co.kr
