Korean Pavilion Opens at the 2025 Venice Biennale International Architecture Exhibition: "Dukkeob-a Dukkeob-a"

Over 300 Attendees Including Government Officials and Architects
Gather for the Opening Ceremony

The Korea Arts Council announced on the 11th that the Korean Pavilion exhibition at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of the 2025 Venice Biennale officially opened on the 10th in Venice, Italy.

Opening ceremony scene of the Korean Pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of the 2025 Venice Biennale. Korea Arts Council

This exhibition was curated by CAC (Curating Architecture Collective), an artistic director group consisting of Jung Dayoung, Kim Heejung, and Jung Sungkyu, and featured participation from architects Kim Hyunjong, Park Heechan, Yang Yena, and Lee Dami.

This year, the exhibition focuses on the architectural space and natural environment of the Korean Pavilion, which was built as the 26th national pavilion in Giardini, the main venue of the Venice Biennale. The unique exterior and the interior and exterior elements of the building, which resulted from the strict permitting conditions imposed by the city of Venice?such as the requirement to preserve traces of trees on the construction site?are re-examined through an archival narrative and speculative imagination, prompting reflection from multiple contextual perspectives.

The opening ceremony for the Korean Pavilion exhibition was held at 2 p.m. on May 9, one day before the official opening of the Architecture Exhibition. The event was attended by government officials such as Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yong Hoseong and Korean Ambassador to Italy Kim Joongu, as well as Franco Mancuso, co-designer of the Korean Pavilion, and former commissioners and artistic directors of the Architecture Exhibition including Kim Jongseong, Cho Minseok, Shin Hyewon, and Park Seongtae. In addition, over 300 domestic and international architecture and art professionals attended, including world-renowned architect and general director of the 2025 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism Thomas Heatherwick.

Song Sikyung, Secretary General of the Korea Arts Council and commissioner of the Korean Pavilion, stated at the opening ceremony, "I hope this exhibition will highlight the significance and value of the Korean Pavilion through the fresh perspectives and sensibilities of the younger generation, and that it will serve as an opportunity to imagine the new future and changes awaiting the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale."

St?phanie Quantin, curator at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, who visited the exhibition, said, "While walking around the Korean Pavilion, I was drawn to focus on the building and the space itself." Shirley Surya, design and architecture curator at M+ in Hong Kong, commented on the multilayered narratives and diverse relationships embedded in the space, saying, "It made me see the Korean Pavilion from a new perspective."