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Eco Art: Time of the Earth

  • 2021-11-25 ~ 2022-03-27
  • Gwacheon 1F, Gallery 1, Main Hall

Exhibition Overview

Eco Art: Time of the Earth

Towards Eco Art: Art as Meditation on the Value of Life and Ecological Practice

Time of the Earth (2021) is an open platform that surveys the ecological worldview that has emerged as the zeitgeist of the current era, which is characterized by global crises such as climate change and pandemics. In addition to an archive, it presents works by 16 artists based in Korea and overseas who seek to restore the values of "symbiosis," "connection," and "balance." New works by Korean artists Kim Juree, Na Hyun, Beak Jungki, Seo Dongjoo, Jang minseung, Jeong Kyudong, and Chung Soyoung meet works by international artists Olafur Eliasson, Jean-Luc Mylayne, Giuseppe Penone, Christian Boltanski, and Hiroshi Sugimoto to considerately and communally canvass the relationship between humans and nature, pursue balance and harmony, and establish an open consensus on coevolution.


Not only do the artists express their ecological worldviews through the works in this exhibition, but they have practiced them throughout the process of the works’ production and installation. Drywalls in the exhibition space have been taken down to allow for works to communicate with each other, and silver spheres, specially made in three different sizes, have been placed in between the art to reflect not only the works but also the visitors and the exhibition space. These choices express the artists' intention to give the exhibition a sense of rhythm as well as convey the ecological messages of fluidity, variability, and connectivity.

The archive of Korean ecological art (eco art) that continues in the Main Hall delineates how Korean eco art, which emerged in the 1970s as an alternative to existing art forms, has progressed. This section features works by eco artists Rim Dong Sik, Kim Bojoong, Jeoung Jae Choul, and Lee Kyungho as well as various archival materials to provide a concise introduction to Korean eco art.


Eco art overcomes the human-centric perspective that seeks ways of ecological thinking and practice. It is simultaneously an act of retrospection into the history of humankind and of opening up new possibilities for the future. Through new and representative works by the participating contemporary artists and an archive that narrates the birth and development of Korean eco art, Time of the Earth explores eco art's historical value and potential. At the same time, it places the time of mankind within the grand history of the earth-the shared home of all living and non-living beings-to prompt viewers to reflect on their own ecological worldviews, which manifest only when humans recognize themselves as a member of the vast ecosystem.

  • Artist
    Kim Juree, Na Hyun, Beak Jungki, Seo Dongjoo, Olafur Eliasson, Jean-Luc Mylayne, Jang Minseung, Jeong Kyudong, Chung Soyoung, Giuseppe Penone, Christian Boltanski, Hiroshi Sugimoto + Korean Ecological Art Archives (Rim Dong Sik, Jeoung Jae Choul, Kim Bojoong, Lee Kyungho)
  • Numbers of artworks
    35

Audio Guide

#1. Greeting and Introduction of the exhibition. Welcome visitors to the exhibition of Time of the Earth Hello! This exhibition will be the chance of reflection on the ecological world-view that demanding the spirit of new era, for confronting the global crisis such as climate change and pandemic. In one word, it is an exhibition related to ecological arts. Before we go on the full view for this exhibition, I would like to bring a question “What is the ecology meaning to you?” The word “ecology” is referring to the state that living things are suitably adapted to their environmental conditions. Objects and the environment have an organic relationship with each other. Also, “ecology” is a concept that implies the fact that we are in an inseparable relationship. Not necessarily using this conceptual definitions, we are realizing this world is all connected as one through experiencing a recent climate crisis and pandemic. For me to live, what we realized again is that everything on earth must function and exist in safe and sound. In that sense, ecology is a perspective as well as an attitude. Rather than seeing the world as human beings centered, it is a fact that we have to see ourselves and the world in relationship with the everything else. After all, from this point of view, humans are living on the planet Earth. It's just a bunch of organisms. They are only creatures in a short history, living in this long time of the earth. So, the title of this exhibition is Time of the Earth. In this exhibition, based on an ecological perspective, Works by various domestic and foreign artists are on display. The relationship between animals and humans, the communion with nature, While meeting the works on the theme of restoration of balance based on mutual respect, How about you creating a consensus for true coexistence?
 Greeting and Introduction of the exhibition

101. Greeting and Introduction of the exhibition