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| Urban Terrains Lab's digital collage work depicting an aerial map of Incheon will be put on view at the Korean Pavilion's exhibition, "2086: Together How?" in time for this year's Venice Architecture Biennale. Courtesy of Urban Terrains Lab |
By Park Han-sol
The year 2086 is projected to be a watershed for humanity when the global population peaks at just over 10.4 billion people, according to the 2022 World Population Prospects report released by the United Nations.
"We imagined that by the time the world population reaches its peak, so will all the environmental and cultural crises currently plaguing the Earth. With that pivotal year in mind, we pose a question ― what should we reconsider and choose to do now?" Jung So-ik, co-artistic director of the Korean Pavilion for this year's Venice Architecture Biennale, remarked on a Wednesday afternoon at the Arko Art Center in central Seoul.
Granted, such an invitation to critically reassess humanity's growth-obsessed capitalism and explore a new paradigm of living in the face of the climate crisis has become a rather well-worn curatorial approach in recent years.
But, it's still a much-needed one, and Jung and co-artistic director Park Kyong aim to tackle the issue in their exhibition, "2086: Together How?" through an engaging mix of site-specific physical installations and an interactive video game.
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| SoA's image of "Empty House" (2023), taken in an abandoned house in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province / Courtesy of Texture on Texture |
The site-specific "Future Community" projects train their lens on three separate regions in Korea, characterized by varying sizes, populations and cultural histories: the global megacity of Incheon that is undergoing active urban redevelopment, the shrinking midsize city of Gunsan in North Jeolla Province and the rural villages dotting Gyeonggi Province, with many occupied by migrant workers.
Calling each community "a case study," Jung said the teams of local experts, urbanists and architects made a surprising discovery while working on the regional projects.
"Despite the three areas' apparent cultural and geographic differences, all were faced with the common crisis looming ― the gradual deterioration of urban centers and villages and their depopulation," she said.
Based on these keywords, the projects, through photographs, videos, architectural installations and models, go on to propose future scenarios pertaining to each region leading up to the crucial year of 2086.
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| A virtually rendered installation view of "The Game of Together How" at the Korean Pavilion / Courtesy of Our Labour |
And after witnessing these imagined scenarios that may become realized in the future, viewers are then invited to take part in the interactive quiz show-like section, "The Game of Together How."
The screen flashes a total of 14 questions ― seven expressed in a dark comic style and seven as real-life emergencies ― that ask the participants to choose their desired actions in present and future ecocultural settings.
This emphasis on the individual act of making choices forms the central message of the exhibition, the artistic directors say, for the current global environmental challenges are the products of humanity's past decisions.
"To understand our future, we need to critically investigate our recent past … (marked by) the rise of population, production, consumption and waste," Park noted. "We can only advance in the future now if we investigate our past and understand how we got here."
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| A scene from Jung Jae-kyung's three channel video, "A Future" (2023) / Courtesy of the artist |
"2086: Together How?" suggests that we can't create a new sustainable paradigm of living without confronting the fact that the centuries of humanity's fixation with progress and prosperity has led to indiscriminate capitalist development and environmental catastrophe.
It may be considered a curatorial statement that lacks novelty when said in words, but the physical and interactive installations at the pavilion may be what complete its ambitious picture.
The 18th edition of the Venice Architecture Biennale, curated by Ghanaian-Scottish architect Lesley Lokko, will take place from May 20 to Nov. 26 under the theme, "The Laboratory of the Future." In addition to the flagship International Exhibition, 64 national pavilions will put forth their own shows in response to the central theme.
