Acknowledgments
The Korean Pavilion is a project of the Arts Council Korea (ARKO). The artist and I extend our gratitude to the International Exhibitions Division at ARKO, especially Hye Ju Choi and director Jinsoo Hwang, as well as the ARKO chairman, Kwang-su Oh. Our thanks go to Jung Hun Kim, former ARKO chairman; Jee-sook Beck, former ARKO Art Center director; and Gye Whan Jang, former visual arts team director, for their early support of this project.
Major support for this exhibition has been provided by Hanjin Shipping and Samsung Foundation of Culture. At Hanjin Shipping, we are indebted to chairwoman Eun Young Choi, deputy president Y. M. Cho, and public relations associate Hyun Jung Kim. At Samsung Foundation, we are grateful to RaYoung Hong, deputy director of Leeum: Samsung Museum of Art, who has been a remarkable friend to this project, as well as Min Sun Park of the public relations team at Samsung Foundation. Kukje Gallery in Seoul offered generous support for the production of Haegue Yang’s work. Our appreciation goes to president Hyunsook Lee, Gimo Yi, Tina Kim, and Suzie Kim for their assistance. Barbara Wien was an early believer in Haegue’s work, and we express our thanks to her for her commitment to this project and to Galerie Barbara Wien, Berlin, for acting as the primary distributor for the publication.
Though Haegue resides in both Berlin and Seoul, neither she nor I live full-time in Korea, and therefore we have had to depend on the generous assistance of many people in Seoul in order to realize this project. For their patient consultation, advice, and friendship, we thank former Korean Pavilion commissioners Sunjung Kim, Soyeon Ahn, and Honghee Kim and former exhibition coordinator Jee Hyun Lew. We are also grateful to Heejin Kim, Insa Art Space curator, for her exceptional concern, advice, and assistance. In addition, we would like to acknowledge Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Jungwan Kim, and Haesook Lee for their support of this project through the Seoul benefit event at Kukje Gallery.
Haegue and I are privileged to have outstanding colleagues in the United States, many of whom might not usually find themselves associated with the Korean Pavilion in Venice. I would like to acknowledge the remarkable support of my home institution, the New Museum, New York, especially Lisa Phillips, Toby Devan Lewis Director; Richard Flood, chief curator; Gabriel Einsohn, communications director; and the entire education and public programs staff. In Los Angeles, colleagues supported a fundraising effort organized by Christina Kim and Jennifer Cheh at dosa. Special thanks to our dear friends and family Mark Bradford, Michael Joo, Rodney McMillian, Lorna Simpson, and Kara Walker, who graciously donated works toward the effort, and to all the donors to the fundraiser, including Susan White, Jose Kuri and Monica Manzutto, and Susanne Vielmetter. Douglas Fogle, Joseph Imhauser, Ryan Inouye, Anne Kim, and Ethan Swan also lent incredible helping hands.
In an effort to extend our contribution to the Biennale before and after the exhibition, Haegue and I organized an unofficial side project to the Korean Pavilion called An Offering: Public Resource. A self-organized library, listening station, and discussion series initiated in the lobby of Artsonje Center, Seoul, in March of this year, the project included the participation of hundreds of individuals and institutions and is discussed in our conversation in the publication. We are grateful to everyone who donated books and records to Public Resource, as well as to the Korean Cultural Service, New York, for partial support of shipping books and records from New York to Seoul. Thanks to Artsonje Center for hosting the project, Choi Jeong Hwa for designing the space, and Sunjung Kim, Boyoung Chang, and Kyong-Young Lim at SAMUSO: Space for Contemporary Art for executing the project, which remains on view through December 2009. To Young Whan Bae; Choi Jeong Hwa; Doryun Chong; Gimhongsok; Kyu Chul Ahn, Tae Ho Lee, Ok Sang Lim, and former members of the legendary collective Reality and Utterance (현실과발언/Hyun Sil Gwa Baleon); Heung Soon Im; siren eun young jung; Heejin Kim; Hyunjin Kim; Sangyoun Kim; and Chan-Kyong Park, who inaugurated Public Resource with a series of fascinating informal talks in March 2009, we thank you all for your blind optimism. Several of these artists and others have contributed to the final section of the publication, which features both republished and new contributions that begin to suggest a historical and formal context for Haegue’s work as well as a larger conversation on contemporary art in Seoul. To these incredible colleagues—Young Whan Bae, Jee-sook Beck, Gimhongsok, siren eun young jung, Beom Kim, Chan-Kyong Park, Reality and Utterance, and Kunyoung Cho—our sincerest thanks for sharing your work in this volume.
Haegue and I extend our deepest gratitude to our outstanding team for the exhibition and publication: Korean Pavilion coordinator Eun Jeong Kim; exhibition coordinator Jinjoo Kim; exhibition installation team members Pattara Chanruechachai, Taro Furukata, and Jun Hui Byun; fabricators and technical consultants Stefan Knauer, Berlin, and Christian Eberhardt, Frankfurt am Main; translators Doryun Chong (who also wrote extensive and highly informative notes), Jaeeun Gwak, Yoewool Kang, Ye-kyung Kil, Bum Lee and Esther Yu; publication coordinator and Korean-language editor Yumi Kang; English-language editor Michelle Piranio; graphic designer Sungyeol Kim; and everyone at Studio Haegue Yang, Berlin: Megumi Fukuda, Taro Furukata, Sylbee Kim, Yuji Mori, Katharina Schwerendt, and Ayako Yamamoto.
Eungie Joo
Commissioner, Korean Pavilion