K-NOW! Korean Video Art Today in MASI – Museum of Art of Italian Switzerland, LAC in Lugano
2026-03-10K-NOW! Korean Video Art Today is an exhibition of Korean video art hosted by MASI – Museum of Art of Italian Switzerland, LAC in Lugano.
This exhibition represents an important opportunity to see some video art works created by contemporary Korean artists. It is open from March 8 to 19, 2026 and is curated by Francesca Benini and Je Yun Moon (former deputy director of the Art Sonje Centre in Seoul). The Korean artists presenting their works are: Chan-kyong Park (Seoul, 1965), Jane Jin Kaisen (Jeju, 1980), Ayoung Kim (Seoul, 1979), artistic colletive 업체eobchae (Nahee Kim, Cheonseok Oh and Hwi Hwang), Sungsil Ryu (Seoul, 1993), Heecheon Kim (Seoul, 1989), Onejoon Che (Seoul, 1979) and Sojung Jun (Busan, 1982).
The new generation of Korean video artists tackles complex issues such as the relationship between technology and the body in an increasingly technological society in which technology itself has become an extension of the human being. Other themes addressed by the artists engage with history, memory and tradition, reminding us how important it is not to forget our past as the legacy of our predecessors. While rooted in the history and reality of Korea, the works on display offer deeply revealing visions and scenarios on key themes of our globalised present: technology and the body, history and memory, migration and a world of work increasingly defined by performance and acceleration.
This exhibition is also important for another reason: the artists will be present in Lugano and the curators have organised special meetings in which the artists will talk about their works, from the idea to the creation, and share how the art world works in Korea.
The exhibition opens with Citizen's Forest (2016) by Chan-kyong Park. The artist intertwines the tradition of Korean shamanism with some tragic events in recent history, including the sinking of the Sewol ferry in 2014. In this case, video art combines tradition, memory and history, offering new interpretations and reflections.
Jane Jin Kaisen's videos Offering (2023) and Wreckage (2024) present evocative and poetic images that highlight the artist's connection to Jeju Island, her submerged memories and the culture of the Haenyeo, Korean female free divers.
Delivery Dancer's Sphere (2022) by Ayoung Kim is projected onto a monumental LED wall in the centre of the exhibition space: the audience follows the motorcycle journeys of a young courier through a Seoul transformed into an algorithmic landscape. The artist's aim is to show an increasingly accelerated society that leaves little room for reflection.
The artistic collective 업체eobchae (Nahee Kim, Cheonseok Oh and Hwi Hwang), founded in 2017 in Seoul, observes economic models and technological transformations, proposing an ironic and surreal digital aesthetic. The video Rola Rolls (2024) is accompanied by the sculpture Tree of Rola (2024).
Sungsil Ryu, with the video BJ Cherry Jang 2018.9 (2018), investigates a society that divides people into social classes and enslaves them to unrealistic desires, pushing them to pursue a supposed “first-class status”.
Heecheon Kim, with Ghost1990 (2021), explores perception and immerses the viewer in the life of an injured athlete, amid vulnerability, desires and obsessions.
Onejoon Che presents Made in Korea (2021), created with Nigerian musician Igwe Osinachi: through the language of music videos, he addresses the theme of African emigration to Korea.
The museum hall hosts Green Screen (2021) by Sojung Jun, filmed along the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas: a place steeped in history, expectations and separations, but also natural regeneration.
Personally I recommend visiting this exhibition for the uniqueness of the themes addressed by the artists. Each artist presents an aspect rooted in Korean society and offers their own perspective on it. Some videos allow the viewer to immerse themselves in the virtual reality created by the artist, to better understand their point of view and the theme addressed.
This exhibition is a unique experience: visitors can get to know 8 Korean video artists, understand their points of view and creative process through talks organised by the museum, and interact with the works by immersing themselves completely in their artistic vision.
Video art is a very sensitive way of expressing art that senses negative and positive changes in society and interprets them through the artist's vision, state of mind and life experience. Therefore, it is essential to understand Korean society in order to understand their art, and I believe this exhibition is a good opportunity to learn more about contemporary Korean art as well as the history of Korea.
The exhibition is accompanied by a bilingual Italian-English catalogue with critical essays by Francesca Benini, Je Yun Moon and Adeena Mey, a preface by Tobia Bezzola and interviews with all the participating artists. A valuable opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of their thinking and their art.
Info and credits:
MASI – Museum of Art of Italian Switzerland, LAC in Lugano
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