Calling 560 Lives... Choi Jaeun's "The Promise" Exhibition

Seoul Museum of Art, Through April 5 Next Year

Choi Jaeun has continuously explored the relationship between life and nature across various media, including sculpture, video, installation, and architecture. The "Myeong (Minor Names)" project is part of this ongoing pursuit. Choi Jaeun has been consistently collecting wildflowers and wild plants encountered in daily life, searching for their names, and recording them.

On the morning of the 22nd, artist Choi Jaeun is speaking at a press conference held at the Seosomun Main Building of the Seoul Museum of Art in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Seo Mideum

The artwork "When We First Met" is a piece created by pressing and naming over 560 unidentified living beings collected during this process. As someone who has collected wildflowers during twice-daily walks, why and how did the artist find and gather the names of 560 living things? Meeting with reporters on December 22 at the Seosomun Main Building of the Seoul Museum of Art, where her solo exhibition "Choi Jaeun: The Promise" is being held, Choi said, "I wanted to help them reclaim their sovereignty by acknowledging their names and existence," adding, "I thought that if we pay attention to them out of regret for their disappearance despite coexistence, there is a possibility for their survival." The pressed wildflowers and wild plants on lacquered wooden panels seem to embody their own origins, the cultures they have formed with humans, and the crises they face, each telling their own story. In the exhibition hall, a sound installation titled "Calling Names," created in collaboration with music director Jang Younggyu, gently resonates, reciting the names of representative species that have gone extinct since the Industrial Revolution.

The artwork "When We First Met," which captures the images and names of over 560 wildflowers and wild plants. Photo by Seomideum.

The artist's affection for nature naturally develops into a special sentiment toward the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a symbol of division. The steel stepping stones placed in one part of the exhibition hall are made from plates created by melting down DMZ barbed wire. This sculpture visually condenses the artist’s perception of the conflict between human-imposed boundaries and the boundlessness of nature. By stepping on these platforms, which are made from the melted symbol of separation and hatred, we experience crossing boundaries into a new dimension of life. Choi first encountered the DMZ by chance and, after experiencing the irony of the severance of humanity and the persistence of nature there, released the documentary "On the Road" (2000) and has continued research on seed balls (bundles of plant seeds for ecosystem restoration). Her artistic practice is also part of this effort. This exhibition succinctly brings together those activities within the gallery. For her, art possesses a dynamic value that goes beyond mere beauty. "I plan to expand my activities in the DMZ. I am encouraging donations of seed balls." During the exhibition, visitors can participate in a hands-on program where they make sunflower seed balls with soil.

A steel plate made by melting DMZ barbed wire is laid out like stepping stones on the exhibition floor. Photo by Seomideum.

Choi’s works sound an alarm for humanity. The video series "Horizon Without Response," which combines real-time sea surface temperature data and ocean imagery, visualizes the reality of the climate crisis and ecological destruction. The bleached coral displayed at the center of the exhibition serves as a warning from nature, urging us to listen not only from a human-centered perspective but also to the alarms sounded by the sea and the earth. Choi said, "Temperatures from various regions are transmitted every 10 seconds. This time, I noticed that sea surface temperatures have risen significantly over the past year," adding, "I hope this exhibition will serve as a wake-up call for visitors."

Sea surface temperatures from around the world are being transmitted to the exhibition hall in real time. Photo by Seomideum

This exhibition is Choi Jaeun’s first solo show at a national or public art museum in Korea, offering a retrospective of her major works and latest pieces for the first time in about 10 years. The exhibition runs until April 5 next year.

Choi Jaeun, 71, moved to Japan in 1975, where she immersed herself in Sogetsu Ikebana, the traditional Japanese art of flower arrangement, and developed her own unique artistic world. She has been active internationally, serving as the representative artist at the Japan Pavilion of the Venice Biennale (1995), participating in the S?o Paulo Biennale (1991), and being invited to the main exhibition of the Venice Biennale of Architecture (2016). In Korea, she has carried out public projects such as "Simultaneity" at Kyungdong Church in Seoul (1990), "Space of Zen" at the stupa of monk Seongcheol at Haeinsa Temple (1995-1998), and "Direction of Time" at Samsung Seoul Hospital (1994).