Korean Pavilion's Intimate Archive and Neon Critique Stand Out at 2017 Venice Biennale

At the 2017 Venice Biennale, the Korean Pavilion featured contrasting works by Cody Choi and Lee Wan. Choi, a Korea-born, America-based artist, presented a garish neon façade mimicking motel and peep show signs, critiquing Western cultural dominance through appropriated symbols like Richard Sanderson's 1980s song 'Dreams Are My Reality' and a replica of Auguste Rodin's The Thinker (1904), referencing casino cultures of Macau and Los Angeles. Lee Wan's contribution involved a floor-to-ceiling wooden wall displaying photographs, letters, official documents, and newspaper clippings narrating the life of Mr K (Kim Ki-moon), a journalist and businessman whose archive Wan purchased at a Seoul flea market in 2012. This installation chronicled Mr K's personal milestones—childhood in a Korean country town, army enlistment post-Korean War, wedding, and journalism career—alongside key political events such as Korea's post-World War II partition, Park Chung Hee's coup and military rule, and the Gwangju Uprising. Amid the Biennale's hectic opening week, with its packed schedule of exhibitions and parties across Venice's palazzos, churches, and rundown buildings, Wan's intimate work offered a reflective space, contrasting with the spectacle of pavilions in the Giardini area, where art often resembles themed attractions. The pavilion's tacky exterior drew initial attention, but Wan's detailed narrative held viewers longer, providing a lens into Korean history through one individual's story.