On 7 September, the Dong-gok Museum of Art in Gwangju, South Korea, saw the inauguration of the second edition of the Italian Pavilion as part of the 15th Gwangju Biennale.
The initiative was organised by the Italian Cultural Institute of Seoul, the Gwangju Biennial, the Bomun Welfare Foundation, and the Dong-gok Art Museum, with the support of the Mazzoleni Gallery, London - Turin, the Bomun Welfare Foundation, the institutional partnership with the Seoul Institute of the Arts, and the technical partnership for sound by Bang&Olufsen," the Farnesina announced.
The event was attended by the Italian Ambassador in Seoul, Emilia Gatto, the Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Seoul, Michela Linda Magrì, the curator and artistic director of the Pavilion, Soik Jung, together with prominent personalities such as the President of the Gwangju Biennale, Park Yangwoo, the Mayor of Gwangju, Kijung Kang, and the President of the Bomun Welfare Foundation, Jeong YoungHyun, the organisation hosting the Pavilion.
The name of the Italian Pavilion, which can be visited until 31 January, is 'Ministries of Loneliness' and aims to examine the relationship "between the individual (I) and the social/collective environment (We), in the context of the multitude of 'certainties' taken for granted, and which are now collapsing". While the main exhibition of the Gwangju Biennial, 'Pansori - A 21st Century Soundscape', curated by Nicolas Bourriaud, dealt with issues concerning the 'great outdoors' - understood as the outside world in its cosmological vastness - through sound, 'Ministries of Loneliness' focuses on the relationship of the 'I' with its surroundings (We), a new chapter in the contex-specific project on which artist Rebecca Moccia, winner of the Cantica 21 competition, has been working since 2021. Specifically, "the artist has carried out a series of workshops involving students from the Seoul Institute of the Arts in a participatory research process. The students contributed not only as subjects of dialogue, but also as co-researchers to find and document places, stories, situations and media that reveal the roots and development of loneliness in Korea".
An exhibition 'Italian path' was set up inside the museum, dedicated to the activities of the Italian Cultural Institute by designer/artist Andea Vecera.
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