2018 Sulwha Cultural Exhibition FORTUNE LAND– Gold Leaf

Kum Bak Yeon presents Hongwonsam (Red Ceremonial Robe, by Kim Deok-hwan) and Myeonsa (Royal Veil 1 & 2, by Kim Ki-ho and Park Soo-young). Wonsam dates back to the Unified Shilla Dynasty, and developed over many years as part of the nation’s tradition in terms of ritual and institution, becoming the ceremonial robe we know today. It was one of the representative ceremonial costumes of women during the late Joseon Dynasty, and the wonsam with gold-leaf patterns was made exclusively for royalty. The red wonsam, or Hongwonsam, was the ceremonial robe of the queen, and was further dignified by adding phoenix designs with pure gold, and gold-leaf dragon insignias according to decorum. Myeonsa, myeonsa-bo or myeonsa-po were square-shaped cloths used to cover the entire body, from head to toe. In the late Joseon Dynasty, myeonsa was part of the official attire, and was definitely used for ceremonial dress. The myeonsa veils used in the palace were generally square in shape, and came in the colors of red, violet, indigo and dark purple. They were used as part of the ceremonial costume for queens and royal concubines, and were decorated with diverse gold-leaf patterns.

Kumbakyeon is a traditional gold-leaf craft workshop that has been operating for five generations, since the King Cheoljong era of the Joseon Dynasty. It is currently managed by gold leaf master Kim Ki-ho, Important Intangible Cultural Asset No. 119.
Kim Deok-hwan (Holder of National Intangible Cultural Asset Gold Leaf Master)
Kim Ki-ho (Initiate of National Intangible Cultural Asset Gold Leaf Master)
Park Soo-young (Initiate of National Intangible Cultural Asset Gold Leaf Master)
www.kumbakyeon.modoo.at

Documentary art film Golden Swell by Sustain-Works, about Kum Bak Yeon, explores the aesthetics of traditional gold-leaf technique through video media. The film brings into relief the sense of time, place and craftsmanship involved in the delicate and complicated traditional gold leaf work, as it portrays the production method, which has been passed down for many years, through sensuous images and sounds.

Sustain-Works is working continuously with the media of photography, video and text. It pursues progressive work through new expressions and approaches. We love the productions of SUSTAIN-WORKS and do our best for a happy process and greatest results.
www.sustain-works.com

TWOTHREE presents a cotton candy booth called Honeytail Hive. By combining the physical and tactile properties of gold leaf, which consists of fine lines, and cotton candy, which is made by drawing out threads of sugar, the artists imagine a space where “orientality” and “fantasy” collide, remaking the cotton candy booth—an essential element of the amusement park—into a place of new sensibility.
<Copyright : 둘셋 스튜디오 Studio twothree>

“TWOTHREE” which means the combination of 2D and 3D, is a design studio run by graphic designer Bang Jeong-in and set designer Hong Yoon-hee. It pursues a broad scope of design based on multi-dimensional interpretations of themes, not tied to formalities. TWOTHREE continuously communicates issues of social empathy, at studio and individual levels.
www.twothree.kr

Moon Lee’s work Gold Blossom is a costume work that embodies the imaginary image of a Korean queen through a ceremonial robe decorated with gold leaf patterns, and evening wear. Using materials such as silk, gold thread, pearls and beads, and forms such as plum blossoms, branches, birds and cherry blossoms, the designer has produced a unique costume containing a fairy-tale-like narrative, thus reinterpreting traditional gold leaf in a contemporary way, emphasizing its elegance and mysteriousness.
<Copyright : Moon Lee, 이인주>

Founded in 2015 contemporary Womenswear label Moon Lee seeks to transcend the traditional connotations of dress. Starting with art designer In-joo Lee uses the brand as a vehicle to express her own emotions and reaction to current affairs. Using cloth as her canvas she fuses with modern pattern cutting techniques and a nod to the traditional Korean textiles of her heritage.
www.moonleeartwear.com

C-ZANN E presents clothes reinterpreting Korean traditional ramie fabric and gold leaf patterns in a contemporary way. The Vest, inspired by the traditional men’s ramie summer jacket, which can be worn in many ways, a Dress, in which traditional ramie fabric meets Western fabric, and the Long Jacket, which was inspired by the back hem of the traditional gentleman’s robe, were made with the intention to bless those who wear them.
<Copyright : C-ZANN E 이서정(SEOJUNG LEE)>

C-ZANN E is a high-end designer brand created by designer Lee Seo-jeong, applying the aesthetics of Korean traditional hanbok to Western everyday dress. It reflects Lee’s design philosophy, to make “clothes that become the composure of life, clothes that express inner beauty, and clothes that help recover self-esteem.” The brand aims to be comfortable for users, with simple modern beauty, influenced by avant-garde and minimalist styles. It targets professionals in their 30s~50s, and bobos who pursue their own unique styles.
www.czann.com

COM’s work, HappyHappy, is a carnival game booth made by dividing and simplifying the units of the Chinese characters “幸福,” meaning “happiness.” Spectators throw beanbags into a hole in the structure to get points, and receive prizes according to their score. The project carries the significance of hoping for good fortune, and provides participants with the joy of feeling lucky as they win prizes.

COM is a design studio established in 2015 by Kim Se-jung, who majored in space design at Kookmin University, and Han Ju-won, who majored in stage art at Korean National University of the Arts. Based on spatial design, the group carries out diverse projects according to need, such as furniture, exhibitions and stage design.

Fortune Road by Artist Proof is a carpet made with diverse gold leaf patterns symbolizing authority and the desire for good fortune. The work, which welcomes spectators at the entrance with its organic arrangement, is not straight, but was made hoping that visitors would have all sorts of good luck and fortune as they walk along this fun path.
<Copyright : 아티스트 프루프>

Artist Proof is printmaker Choi Kyung-joo’s printing label. She carries out commodity production and other projects based on techniques such as silk screen, etching and painting. She operates AP SHOP—the show room of Artist Proof—together with trumpet player Lee Dong-yeol, and has organized and managed diverse programs such as AP SHOP LIVE, as well as exhibitions, performances, education and workshops.
www.artistproof.org

The Fortune Card series by Quang Comics and Buch uses a peculiar concept, combining traditional gold-leaf art with comics, often considered a subculture genre. The artists present visual pleasure through a unique drawing style and comic narratives, while also conveying their wishes for good fortune through the gold-leaf patterns. The diverse gold-leaf designs, re-interpreted in a comic way, are reborn into golden ornaments to drive away misfortune and bring good luck, and badges that can be worn by people.
<Copyright : QUANG COMICS>

Quang is a creative group made to share comic experimentation and fun. Quang aims to function as a center for contemplation and proposals on diverse comic works, in order to contribute to forming a broader topography of Korean comic art. Moreover, it wants to promote the creating of good comics and serve as a field for young artists’ activities.

* Participating Artist : Goo Hyunseong, Sim Kyutae, Ahn Yoojin, Woo Younsik, Lee Kyutae, Choi Sungmin, Choi Young-Hoon, Choi Jaehoon, Choi Hyungnae & BUCH
www.quangcomics.cafe24.com

Beating Gold by FHHH Friends is a punching game, with a sandbag installed on an elastic structure. Hitting the sandbag will change not only its position but also the shape of the structure; and spectators’ interest is deepened by the rhythmic movement which, due to the elasticity, lasts for a long time after the punch. While expressing their imagination of the minimal world that is solid and heavy but exists in a swaying state, the artists focus on the element of “gold” itself, which is the material used for gold leaf craft.
<Copyright : FHHH Friends>

FHHH Friends is an architectural firm founded by three friends—Han Seung-jae, Han Yang-gu and Yoon Han-jin. They have carried out design projects based on architecture since 2013. The group received the Gimhae Architecture Award in 2014 and the Seoul Architecture Award in 2016, but since then everything has been relatively quiet.
www.fhhhfriends.co.kr

Habitant presents its media art work Jangseung in a passage to the exhibition space, through which spectators enter. By combining the “Jangseung,” which traditionally played the role of setting boundaries and protecting the village at its entrance, and the dancing balloon model, which stands before shops to seduce consumers, the artists attempt to induce a collision between traditional animism and contemporary kitsch. The Jangseung, greeting spectators at the entrance of the exhibition space, repeatedly appears and disappears behind a cloth decorated with delicate gold-leaf patterns. The cloth, flying in the wind like a curtain on a theater stage, represents the fancy images of peony, lotus flower, chrysanthemum and plum blossom designs, traditionally used in royal costumes and other items, in contemporary style, thus conveying the messages of loyalty, longevity, wealth and harmony.

Habitant is a creative studio consisting of top planners, strategists, branding designers, artists, musicians, photographers and video designers. Based on our experiences in diverse fields, we provide valuable language of change to the trends of visual culture contents, few of which have anything but stimulation nowadays. Moreover, in an era of rapid change, we cross boundaries to focus on communication with vitality. Our purpose of work is to provide better and more effective solutions to organizations, corporations, brands, consumers and humankind.
www.habitant.or.kr

Time Is Gold Is Time, by Lee Hyun-tae, Seo Dong-joo and Soundance, is a carousel. The symbolic item of an amusement park and a typical ride of the West is made to express Eastern sentiment through Korean traditional gold-leaf patterns, and is combined with waltz-like background music. By appropriating the structural and functional characteristics of the merry-go-round, and combining this with poetic storytelling involving concepts ranging from time to gold, meanwhile using traditional and contemporary graphics, the work talks about a festive moment when diachronic time, from past tradition to present, and synchronic time, that of the carousel ride, are merged together. Moreover, by comparing the carousel’s movement, which turns in a circle, moving forward and returning to where it began, to the circular nature of time and the eternity of gold, we are given a suggestion of the human journey between something eternal within precious, fortunate and infinite time, and something endlessly changing. Spectators are thus presented with diverse physical and emotional experiences.
<Copyright : Soundance, Seo Dong-ju, Lee Hyun-tae>

Soundance Yoo Hee-jong was the leader of electronic pop band Fortune Cookie from 2004 to 2008, and worked as adjunct professor of sound design at the Department of Video Design, Kaywon School of Art and Design from 2014 to 2016. He is currently working as a music director for media façades, videos and advertisements, under the alias Soundance.

Seo Dong-joo is an artist dealing with diverse themes through video, graphic design, installation and new media, based on research on place and time. Since graduating from the Department of Visual Design, Kookmin University, and receiving his Master’s Degree from the Department of Video & Media Anthropology, Berlin Free University, Seo has participated in exhibitions at various venues including the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (Seoul, 2016), Amorepacific Art Museum (Jeju, 2014/Seoul, 2018), and SOMA Museum of Art (Seoul, 2013, 2018). He has also received the Adobe Global Design Award (2008) and was a finalist in the VH Award (2018).
www.dongjooseo.com

Since graduating from the Department of Visual Design, Kookmin University, and going to the Netherlands to receive a Master of Artistic Research at the Royal Academy of Art, Lee Hyun-tae is currently carrying out diverse experiments on contingency and the impromptu, using images and sounds.
www.opqrstae.com

<Exhibition graphics>, Everyday Practice
Everyday Practice, which is responsible for the Sulwha Cultural Exhibition’s graphics, is a graphic design studio founded by Kwon Joonho, Kim Kyung-chul, and Kim Eojin.
Everyday Practice, a small community of artists, dwells on what roles designers should play and what potential they have in today’s world. With its root in graphic design, Everyday Practice is exploring various design methodologies, not bounded by two-dimensional works. The official poster for FORTUNE LAND-Gold Leaf is a traditional reinterpretation of a carousel, a motif for Time Is Gold Is Time, the exhibition’s central symbol.
www.everyday-practice.com

<Spatial design>, Zero-lab
The space of the Sulwha Cultural Exhibition is designed by Zero-lab, a graphic and product design studio. Zero-lab pursues cultural activities on all fronts and undertakes various creative initiatives in its search for a middle ground between experimental and commercial designs and designs and their real-world challenges.
<Copyright : zerolab>
www.zero-lab.co.kr