Kang Ik-joong’s ‘Public Installation Art’ to be unveiled on the 25th
7,000 people around the world have created ‘Korean life phrases’
“Incorporating the world’s philosophy into our letters”
Artist Kang and Nam June Paik also have a two-person exhibition
The 22m high and 8m wide ‘Hangeul Wall’ built in the new building of the Korean Cultural Center in Manhattan, New York, USA, which was completed this June, will be opened to the public on the 25th (local time). This Hangeul Wall was created by world-renowned installation artist Kang Ik-joong and the New York Korean Cultural Center with ‘life phrases’ submitted in Hangeul by 7,000 people from over 50 countries around the world. The New York Korean Cultural Center, which planned the wall, explained its significance on the 19th, saying, “About 600 years after King Sejong created Hangeul, a global public art piece themed on Hangeul has been created.”
At the New York Korean Cultural Center that the reporter visited that day, the final installation of the Hangul Wall was in full swing. The Cultural Center has been working with artist Kang for the past year to install an art piece with the theme of Hangul on the interior walls of the new building.
Artist Kang has been active as a representative installation artist in New York for the past 40 years, including holding a two-person exhibition with artist Nam June Paik (1932-2006) in the 1990s. He is particularly famous for his large-scale works in which each Korean letter is engraved on a 3-inch by 3-inch (approximately 7.6 cm) square panel. This is a Korean font called ‘Kangikjungche’, which emphasizes the unique Korean color sense by adding colorful colors.
The New York Korean Cultural Center said that they set up a separate site for two months starting in May of this year and received their own ‘Life Line’ from citizens around the world. They explained that when you input a specific sentence in your language on this site, a Korean translation of the design appears and you can color it in your desired color. They also said that there were many foreign participants who wrote things like BTS song lyrics.
The construction of this site, which took about five months, was supported by talent donations from LG CNS. In addition, the Yang Hyun Foundation and the KISS Group, a Korean-American company in the U.S., sponsored the production costs.
Writer Kang also participated in the installation of this Hangul Wall by donating his talent. He explained, “I selected 1,000 phrases out of over 7,000 and introduced the author’s name into the work. Through this, the work was composed of a total of 20,000 Hangul panels.” He especially remembered the phrase sent by pianist Jo Seong-jin, “Let’s walk with our hearts centered,” and emphasized, “It is meaningful to be able to incorporate the world’s philosophy into Hangul at a time when the world’s interest in Korea is at its peak.”
In conjunction with the opening of the ‘Hangeul Wall’, the New York Korean Cultural Center will also hold a retrospective exhibition of Kang Ik-jun titled ‘We are Connected’, borrowing works by Kang from famous New York museums such as the Guggenheim and the Whitney. The exhibition will be held from the 26th to November 7th.
New York = Correspondent Im Woo-sun [email protected]
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2024-09-22 19:01:53