Korean Pavilion
About the Exhibition
At the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, the Korean Pavilion presents Liberation Space: Fortress/Nest, curated by Binna Choi with the participation of artists Goen Choi and Hyeree Ro, commissioned by Arts Council Korea (ARKO).
The exhibition transforms the Korean Pavilion into a living monument to the idea of “Liberation Space”—a reference to Korea’s post-liberation period (1945–1948)—situating it within contemporary geopolitical and social contexts. Through sculptural interventions that engage directly with the Pavilion’s architecture, the project explores liberation not as a fixed historical moment, but as an ongoing process of movement, resilience, protection, and renewal.
As part of the Pavilion, Goen Choi’s Meridian builds on her decade-long sculptural practice using industrial materials commonly found in domestic and urban infrastructures. Within the structure, copper pipes traverse interior and exterior architectures, evoking linear forms such as needles, spears, branches, or beams of light. Hyeree Ro’s Bearing expands the scope of her practice to include themes of new life, care, community, and nationhood, positioning the work within both intimate and collective registers. Composed of approximately 4,000 organza elements coated in wax and layered like fish scales or lotus leaves, Ro’s installation forms a “pavilion within the pavilion.” It guides visitors through a carefully choreographed passage punctuated by eight stations, each prompting an essential act of life, including mourning, remembering, observing, living, waiting, planning, sharing, and repairing. Fostering the network of “liberation space,” the work brings together Fellows from various fields, further expanding the exhibition’s experiential scope.
For the first time in the history of La Biennale di Venezia, a collaboration has been established between the Korean Pavilion and the Japan Pavilion. This collaboration emphasizes dialogue, exchange, and artistic cooperation, acknowledging shared and contested histories while foregrounding possibilities for mutual engagement through cross-participation and joint programming.
Liberation Space: Fortress/Nest will be on view at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, from May 9 to November 22, 2026, at the Giardini in Venice, Italy.
About the Artists
Goen Choi works primarily with hard metals often used in domestic infrastructures, creating site-specific sculptural interventions that extend from interiors to rooftops, balconies, and other exterior architectural spaces. Her practice integrates entire sites into a single organic context, traversing the boundaries between the inside and the outside. Recent projects include new commissioned works for the 2nd Frieze Seoul Artist Award (2024) and the 7th Changwon Sculpture Biennale (2024), Cornering, a solo exhibition at Amado Art Space (2022), and Vivid Cut at P21, Seoul (2021).
Hyeree Ro is an artist based in Brooklyn, New York and Seoul, primarily working with hand-crafted sculptural objects and structures, and multi-lingual fractured narrative-based performance. As a constant migrant passing through various immigrant statuses and encountering disparities in class and wealth, she interweaves her family history, places, language, body, movement, and stories into her practice. Recent projects include solo exhibitions August is the Cruelest at Doosan Gallery, Seoul (2025), Niro at Canal Projects, New York (2024), and Jinhee at Project Space SARUBIA. Seoul (2022). Ro also serves as an Assistant Arts Professor of Collaborative Arts at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
About the Artistic Director
Binna Choi brings two decades of experience working internationally while sustaining deep connections to her roots in the Korean cultural and socio-political landscape. She has been at the forefront of shaping new institutional models through her directorship of Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Her recent curatorial projects in the biennale context include the 2025 Hawai’i Triennial, titled ALOHA NÔ, and the 2022 Singapore Biennale, named Natasha. In the educational context, Choi has also worked with the Doosan Curator Workshop (2024-ongoing), Gwangju Biennale International Curator Course (2025), and Dutch Art Institute (2008-2022).
About the Program
The Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale
Hyundai Motor continues to support the Korean Pavilion at the International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia as the lead supporter since 2015. By confirming the partnership through 2034, Hyundai Motor reaffirms our deep commitment to fostering a sustainable ecosystem for nurturing experimental artistic practices and critical discourses.Founded in 1895, the International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia is one of the world’s most important international art exhibitions, taking place in national pavilions throughout the city and the Central Pavilion every two years. Since its inception in 1995, the Korean Pavilion continues to receive honorable mentions for presenting outstanding works by artists from Korea and broadening perspectives on Korean art across the global landscape.
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