KOO JEONG A

The Korean Pavilion presents ODORAMA CITIES by KOO JEONG A. In this new commission, the artist delves into the nuances of our spatial encounters, investigating how we perceive and recollect spaces, with a particular emphasis on how scents, smells and odours contribute to these memories.

Some of the prominent interests in KOO’s art, such as immaterialism, weightlessness, endlessness, and levitation, are keywords mirrored throughout the Korean Pavilion. They are embedded and engraved as infinity symbols directly into both the new wooden floor and the outdoor installations, are manifested as two floating wooden möbius-shaped sculptures and a levitating, scent-diffusing bronze figure, and finally are symbolized in the scents that transform the pavilion into a collection of olfactory memories.

Last summer, following a public open call issued by KOO and the pavilion curatorial team, Koreans and non-Koreans with a relationship to Korea submitted descriptions in response to one central question: ‘What is your scent memory of Korea?’ This process generated more than 600 written statements recollecting the country through the prism of scent. With the aim of building a portrait of the entire Korean peninsula, KOO and curators Seolhui Lee and Jacob Fabricius collaborated with perfumers to translate and categorise these memories into seventeen distinct scent experiences.

Korean Pavilion
Giardini della Biennale

Images: KOO JEONG A - ODORAMA CITIES, Korean Pavilion 2024, La Biennale di Venezia, Installation view, Courtesy of Pilar Corrias, London, and PKM Gallery, Seoul, Photo Mark Blower.