Korean Pavilion
About the Exhibition
For the 60th Venice Biennale, the Korean Pavilion presents ODORAMA CITIES by artist KOO JEONG A. In this exhibition, the artist delves into the nuances of our spatial encounters, investigating how we perceive and recollect spaces, with a particular emphasis on how scents, smells, and odors contribute to these memories.
During the summer of 2023, over the course of three months, KOO collected scent memories for ODORAMA CITIES with the aim of building a scent portrait of the entire Korean peninsula. After a public open call issued by KOO and the pavilion curatorial team via social media, advertisements, and one-to-one meetings, Koreans and non-Koreans with a relationship to Korea submitted descriptions in response to one central question: “What is your scent memory of Korea?”
This process generated more than 600 written statements recollecting the country through the prism of scent. Thereafter, KOO and the artistic directors carefully selected keywords and stories that were given to 16 perfumers, who have interpreted and created 17 distinct scents for the exhibition.
At the Korean Pavilion itself, KOO will explore an expanded tactility—returning to key interests that mark the artist’s work including immaterialism, weightlessness, endlessness, and levitation. Those concerns are embedded and ultimately symbolized in the scents that transform the pavilion into a sprawling collection of olfactory memories.
ODORAMA CITIES by KOO JEONG A
Korean Pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
April 20, 2024 – November 24, 2024, Giardini, Venice
In partnership with Hyundai Motor
Artistic Directors: Seolhui Lee and Jacob Fabricius
About KOO JEONG A
Since the early 1990s, KOO JEONG A (they/them – b. 1967, lives and works everywhere) has made works that are seemingly casual and commonplace, yet at the same time remarkably precise, deliberate, and considered. Their reflections on the senses and the body incorporate objects, still and moving images, audio elements, and aromas. Many of their works are conceived within site-specific environments that question the limits of fact and fiction, the imaginary and actuality of our world. KOO considers the connection of energies between place and people, relying on chance to drive their encounters.
KOO held solo shows at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Germany (2012), Dia Art Foundation, Dia: Beacon, USA (2010), and Centre Pompidou, France (2004), where they gained their international stature. They have participated in various international exhibitions, including Venice Biennale, Italy (2014, 2009, 2003, 2001, 1995), Liverpool Biennale, UK (2010), Busan and Gwangju Biennales, South Korea (2020; 2014, 2002, 1997), the Guggenheim Museum, USA (2010, 2004, 2002), Fondation Louis Vuitton, France (2015), and National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, South Korea (2015). KOO was a finalist for the Hugo Boss Prize in 2002, won the Hermes Korea Prize for contemporary art in 2005, and was named as 2016 Artist of the Year by the Korean Cultural Centre UK.
About Seolhui Lee & Jacob Fabricius
Seolhui Lee (b. 1987, lives and works in Aarhus) is the chief curator at Kunsthal Aarhus in Denmark (2023–present). She previously served as the head of the exhibition team for the Busan Biennale 2020, was a curator at the Seoul Museum of Art (2018–2019) and worked for the Korea Artist Prize 2012 at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, South Korea (2012–2013). In addition, Lee has served as an adjunct professor at the Korea National University of Arts (2019–2022) and the Kaywon University of Art & Design, South Korea (2022–2023). In conjunction with her studies, Lee’s essays have been published in Korean Contemporary Art Since 1990 (2017) and Reading Korean Contemporary Art with Keywords (2019). She is also a contributor for various art publications, including the contemporary Korean art magazine Art In Culture since 2020.
Jacob Fabricius (b. 1970, lives and works in Copenhagen) is the director of Art Hub Copenhagen in Denmark (2021–present). Prior to this, Fabricius was the artistic director at Kunsthal Aarhus (2016–2021), where he curated several exhibitions by South Korean artists. In 2019, he was appointed as the artistic director for the Busan Biennale 2020 and curated the exhibition Words at an Exhibition: an exhibition in ten chapters and five poems. Fabricius has also served as the director at Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Denmark (2013–2014), artistic director at Malmö Konsthall, Sweden (2008–2012), associate curator at the Centre d’Art Santa Mònica, Spain (2006–2008), Cneai=, France (2015–2016), and artistic director of Contour 2013, 6th Biennial of Moving Image, Belgium (2012–2013).
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.
Take a Closer Look
Editorial Article
An Architecture of Scent: KOO JEONG A’s ODORAMA CITIES
Editorial Video
ODORAMA CITIES: Collaborators Film
Editorial Video
Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale: KOO JEONG A
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