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5/6/2009

Woojung Chun

Gervasuti Foundation, Venezia

53rd International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia Collateral Event

curated by James Putnam

"The universe (which others call the Library)..."
Jorge Luis Borges, The Library of Babel

The library is a potent metaphor for knowledge that evokes images of organization, study, research and discovery. Libraries build relationships and connections and act as catalysts or laboratories for creative thoughts. Chun’s project is inspired in Gervasuti Foundation part by Jorge Luis Borges’ celebrated text, ‘The Library of Babel’ that compares the library to the universe with the grand idea that it is a repository for all knowledge and every individual truth. The universe is governed by an order that we can perceive only partially yet it evokes ideas of the infinite and the eternal – like matter it is neither created nor destroyed – it just is. The "Crimson Hexagon", in Borges’ library is a book containing universal knowledge that will invest its reader with a power akin to God. The only the problem is that this book cannot be found although it exists somewhere in the library. The librarian’s relentless search for the source of universal wisdom is somehow parallel to the human condition itself – a quest that will inevitably remain unfulfilled.

Chun’s installation in a former artisan’s workshop of the Gervasuti Foundation is an imagined library space with book- shelves, desks, cabinets and other familiar devices - recognizable as symbols of secured and organized knowledge. Yet this arche- typal image quickly dissolves to present a rich amalgam of strange and unclassifiable material. So within this place where seemingly all knowledge resides, her project also focuses on the image of a library as a place of persistent search for elusive, unanswered questions - unsolved theories, unexplained narra- tives, incomplete quests and unresolved philosophical debates. The ‘bookshelves’ are intriguing anthropomorphic structures that appear to be ancient and worn out. The mysterious diverse objects they display represent a distillation of memories, accumulated information, ideas and interests – an ambiguous ever-growing and unbounded entity. Chun ‘library books’ seem like ghosts, possessing a persistent force of memory that refuses to be forgotten, carrying histories, fictions, emotions and knowledge suspended in time.

James Putnam

Woojung Chun born 1976 in Korea, lives and works in London. Woojung Chun is a new generation of Korean artist whose work is distinguished by the combination of the strong philosophical interest and the pursuit of unique visual execution of thework, sometimes fusing traditional skills such as painting and sewing with contemporary methods to achieve unusual results. Her practice varies from book making and printing to sculpture and installation and she changes her medium consciously for conceptual necessity. Among other Korean artists of her generation who live and work abroad, many of whose interests deal with their own social, cultural identity, her works are seemingly 'selfless', her interests predominantly lie with fundamental philosophical concerns. Many of her works in the form of art books deal with the issues of language, However, this unsettled philosophical question the artist is pursuing is in fact a broad examination of one's identity and a constant reminder, in a fundamental sense, of our position in a world we do not comprehend. She was awarded twice from Royal Society of Arts, UK and her works are in the public collections of Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and the University of Barcelona. She was presented in the inaugural exhibition of Korean Culture Centre in London 2008 among 10 artists who represent the most exciting arts coming from Korea. She is showing in Escrita Na Paisagem 2009 in Portugal 2009.

Organisation Arts Council Korea http://www.arko.or.kr
In collaboration with the Gervasuti Foundation

For further details contact
Sophie Persson: Tel +44–(0)7813–048407 Email library.enquiry@gmail.com
Laura Bellucci Head Comunication & PR Tel. +39.349.8163272 Email laura@gervasutifoundation.com

Private preview Saturday 6 June 2009 3.30 pm

Supported by:
Senatore Questore Benedetto Adragna, Arts Council Korea, Gervasuti Foundation, Alto Lighting, Changjo Architects, Nexta Media, Associazione Culturale La Saracena, Associazione Culturale Raffaele La Scala, Hotel Metropole Venezia

Image: Library, 2009. Courtesy the artist

Gervasuti Foundation
via Garibaldi, Castello 994 (Fondamenta Sant'Anna) Venice
Hours: 10 am – 9 pm closed Mondays, Tuesdays

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