Koryo Studio

Virtual exhibition of the Korea Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale
North Korea section

A 15 minute guide to the highlights of Koryo Studio’s
contribution to the Golden Lion winning exhibition.

VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE 2014
International participants were invited to respond to the theme ‘Absorbing Modernity’. Minsuk Cho, curator of the South Korean Pavilion, wanted to attempt an ambitious project that united both North and South Korean art, architecture and ideas. Unable to contact North Korean artists directly, Cho approached Koryo Studio who were able to make his vision a reality.
The following are a selection of the commissioned artworks from North Korean architects, and pieces from our collection, which were exhibited at the pavilion.

2013 preparing the North Korea room for installation

North Korean soldiers of the People’s Army during post-war reconstruction
Year: 1954
Artist: Pae Un Song
Medium: Woodblock
Size: 305 x 255

In the background of the woodcut is the Liberation Tower monument in Moran Hill, Pyongyang. This monument was erected on the first anniversary of Korea’s liberation in 1946 (some sources claim 1947) to commemorate the Soviet contribution to the liberation of Korea from Japanese colonial rule.

The theme of construction and re-building of Pyongyang, which was completely flattened during the Korean War, and the massive nationwide infrastructure projects which followed comprise a story central to the DPRK’s national identity and ruling ideology. This foundation narrative is nowhere better captured than in the socialist-realist artwork which expresses a vision for the attainment of socialist harmony and modernity. The subject of construction, and veneration of labour, still plays a major role in art, film, and performance.

An example of a propaganda poster using the construction worker in a more assertive pose than purely documenting a construction project. This poster is designed to inspire workers around the country to follow in his footsteps, towards the building of a strong and prosperous country.
Propaganda poster 505 x 740 printed in 1983.
Everything for the construction of Suncheon Vinyl Factory!

Construction of May Day Stadium
Year: 1988
Artist: Ji Tong Sok
Ink painting
Size: 147 x 233

This woman, wearing an armband that reads ‘Economic Propagandist’ is encouraging the constructors by reading revolutionary slogans and songs

This painting's focus is the Juche Tower, an iconic monument in Pyongyang - Juche is the guiding philosophy of North Korea

These workers all appear to be young and enjoying the moment. The artist is pushing the romanticism and idealism centred on the admiration for the handsome welder from his colleagues and adoring glances from the young female worker

Naming of the New Jong Song Street, Sunshine-dong 3
Year: 1988
Artist: Kim Cheol In
Ink painting
Size: 1018 x 1410

The artwork portrays idealised scenes of everyday life, a clean, modern environment and a joyful and grateful public reaping the benefits of socialist living. In short, they depict the building blocks of socialist life, in terms of their creation, their intended use, and their public benefit. There is evident pride in the workers in the project which they are constructing, and their joy in working as a team. They also reveal the sense of individual pride (always still within the context of the socialist work team) which a completed civic project can bring, as in this example of the individual putting up the name of the completed street. The architecture is quite literally, a gift from the beneficent socialist state, one for which inhabitants should be grateful and which was meant to engender loyalty and a sense of dependence. It was, after all, not only your individual apartment but the whole city which had been planned for your benefit and development.

우리는 행복해요 We are Happy (backpack),
우리동무 Our Comrade (book)

정성거리-해빛동3 Jungsung Street- Hae·bit-dong-3.
Street signs are not common in Pyongyang however markers which designate responsibilities of different work units for different parts of the street are.

The bike emblem reads 성천강 Seongchun River
DPRK made bicycles, promoting the idea that the country being self sufficient. Women were banned from riding bicycles in the mid 1990’s and again in the early 200’s (stating it was unsafe when it was more likely seen as unladylike).

Construction of May Day Stadium
Year: 1988
Artist: Kim Tal Hyon
Linocut

속도전 "Speed Battle" It is a tern refers to the socialist construction method that achieves the best results in the shortest period of time.

Here, the artist is likely introducing references to previous construction in the history of Korea by including Moran pavilion on Moran Hill and another icon of contemporary construction, the Television Tower (1968). Many of the artworks portray a perfect 'manmade' balance between rapid, relentless progress towards modernity on the one hand, and timeless Korean nature on the other. A desire to both tame nature to man’s will to live alongside it, to turn recognizable 'beauty spots'—attractive settings for idyllic social scenes of industry or leisure—into inspiring signifiers of national identity is fully on display.

The artworks featured at the biennial will have been exhibited to the North Korean public either via exhibitions or in print. Their aim is to provide inspiring images of prestigious projects which not only allow the public to be vicariously involved through the depiction of 'ordinary construction workers’ with whom they can readily identify, but they also communicate the message that society will benefit in a broad sense from the projects portrayed.

자력갱생 "Self-reliance"

Wrestling at the Construction Site
Goh Su Jin
1988
Ink painting

Detail of painting before restoration, note vertical crease and crack due to the painting having been stored rolled. The ink is painted on chamji paper and a specialist can work with these layers to repair the damage using traditional glues and support from new backing so that the surface of the ink painting can be restored.

The subject matter is based around the work teams involved in the construction of Kwangbok street which was completed in 1989 for the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students. This painting was exhibited in 1988 and it is typical of artists to paint projects as they are under construction, to inform and inspire the viewer at the time. Kwangbok street is more than 4km-long, with up to 10 lanes of road, an immense boulevard of apartment blocks, built to house more than 20,000 families.

Chosunhwa (thematic revolutionary painting, usually using ink wash on mulberry paper) is the most popular and revered art form in North Korea. The paintings are made on ‘chamji paper’ consisting of strands of mulberry sieved to make one membrane. Various numbers of membranes are naturally glued together (the more membranes, the less absorbent) therefore certain papers are suited to certain ink styles.

Going to a Congratulatory Performance
Year: 1981
Artist: Eun Hui
Linocut

Pyongyang’s Tower of the Juche Idea is one of the most iconic monuments in the DPRK. At 170 metres high, this symbol of the guiding ideology of the nation (Juche literally means ‘the master of one’s destiny’) can be seen throughout the city. It is illuminated by a torch, the Juche Flame, which glows during the night. This linocut print was made in 1981, a year before the tower’s completion. Its opening was timed to coincide with the seventieth birthday of President Kim Il Sung on 15 April 1982.

This poster is congratulating the builders, Such pictures showing work rates of various teams as well as the names and photos of certain high-achieving labourers can be found at all construction sites in the DPRK

This photograph is taken from a similar angle to the linocut. In the final constriction the tower was surrounded by a large stepped plinth cutting off the views to the Grand People’s Study House that can be seen on the linocut.

“Streets and village homes towards hygienic culture!”
July 1985
Roh Ui Kun, Workers Party Publications
Printed by Pyongyang Printing Factory
Size: 505 x 735 

Propaganda posters normally stick to a standardised font to deliver a clear propaganda message. It is more typical for a slogan to be added as a separate strip. However, for this poster the slogan is incorporated in the image and the letters are given a more informal artistic flourish in response to the relative lightness of the message and that it is aimed at women. These posters would be seen in shop windows and notice boards around towns and villages.

Example of an anti-US poster in a barbershop window in Pyongyang.
Slogan reads “Denounce the Foreign Power”

“Cultivate new lands with strength, and expand the surrounding areas!”
1981
Kim Pong Kun, Workers Party Publications
Printed by Pyongyang Printing Factory

TOP: The original gouache propaganda poster showing slight paint damage on the lettering.

BOTTOM: Off-set lithograph print taken from the original. The typeset information on printing house, artists name, date, and print-run information has been added.

Printed by Pyongyang Printing Factory

Flying House

Commissions for Utopia

Koryo Group worked with North Korean architects and commissioned a project to explore ideas that not only would lead to a sustainable future for tourism but also create a unique identity linked to the country’s distinct architectural styles. In the brief we asked for fun, innovative designs, not to be restricted by practicality, and to explore what may be possible with future materials and techniques. Using various symbolic motifs, from a traditional hand wheel to a bird’s nest, the hand drawn designs suggest a new kind of tourism in North Korea, intertwining nature, tradition and technology.

Bird's Nest Riverside Guesthouse

Mt. Myohyang Tourism Bridge

Bird's Nest Riverside Guesthouse interior

Mountain-Conicals
Gouache on paper; Size: 755 x 500 

Mountain Conical's design motif is based on a mountain range, and the orientation designed for growing of plants on one side as well as collection of solar energy, Many of the other artworks have similar rather naive retro-futuristic interpretations of the brief.
This commission allowed North Korean architects to explore ideas about sustainable tourism and the country’s unique architectural style, all through the lens of a collectivist society. Such perspective offered them an opportunity to express their creativity with more freedom than they are typically permitted and allowed the rest of the world to witness the vibrancy of North Korean artistic vision.

Example of waterway and futuristic bullet train rail connections

Mt. Kumgang Bird’s Nest Villa Gouache on paper, Size: 750 x 510 

Mt. Kumgang Bird’s Nest Villa: A typically socialist collective approach was seen throughout the commission . This North Korean architect stated “These villas can be rented by groups of friends or by a company. The architecture offers a unique connection between the environment and the artificial nest, so that we all are in the nest together, learning how to cohabit harmoniously. Along the valley there are different designs and sizes of the nests which relate to each other as they would in nature”

Mt. Kumgang Bird’s Nest Villa Interior: “Its bright, airy, fun, and unusual corridors facing the atrium offer visual contact with your neighbours much more naturally on all floors, creating easier communication between the residents”

A Day of an Architect
Year: 2014
Anonymous artist
Cover painting in water-colour

Selection of pages from A Day of an Architect. Koryo Studio commissioned the work for the Korean Pavilion with a North Korean artist, who visited architectural students in Pyongyang to develop the story of a student who aspires to design a new kind of building. In North Korea, comic books are generally written, drawn, and published to tell historical and wartime stories to teenagers but many are also popular with adults.

“A rich body of work in a highly charged political situation. It is research-in- action, which expands the spatial and architectural narrative into a geopolitical reality.”

Architect and Director of Venice Architecture Biennale 2014

With thanks to Minsuk Cho and Pai Hyungmin

After the Venice Biennale the Korea Pavilion was exhibited in New York at the Tina Kim Gallery and in Seoul at the ARKO Museum (funded by the Arts Council Korea and supported by the Ministry of Culture, and the the Ministry of Unification).

Rem Koolhaas

Virtual exhibition of the Korea Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale North Korea section

Virtual exhibition of the Korea Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale
North Korea section