Published : Jan. 3, 2013 - 19:51
Kang Ik-joong’s installation artwork, “Yoon Dong-ju’s Dream,” which arranges Yoon’s famous poem “Prologue” letter by letter on the background of a mosaic of 500 children’s works. (Yonhap News)
A Hangeul-themed artwork by the famous Korean installation artist Kang Ik-joong will go on permanent display at the Kyoto University of Art and Design.
The piece was made as part of a joint project of Kang and independent publicist Seo Kyoung-duk to promote the Korean writing system to the world.
“I created the piece to promote Hangeul through art at a time when people started to take interest in the Korean alphabet along with the hallyu boom,” Kang told a local news outlet.
Kang Ik-joong
The artwork “Yoon Dong-ju’s Dream,” comprised of tiles inscribed with each word of the poet Yoon’s poem “Prologue,” will be installed next to Yoon’s memorial stone on the campus. Yoon was serving a two-year sentence for anti-Japanese activities when he died in a prison in Japan at the age of 27, only a few months before Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule.
About 500 paintings made by children around the world will also be part of the exhibition. Some of Kang’s famous artworks involve paintings and drawings by children, including the gigantic maze installation of 4,000 works by children from 150 countries which was once displayed at the U.N. headquarters lobby in New York.
The New York-based artist has held numerous exhibitions around the world including the Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and the Ludwig Museum in Germany.
Kang and Seo have been working together to introduce the Korean writing system by displaying Hangeul-themed artworks at international organizations and governments, including the official residence of the U.N. Secretary-General, the UNESCO headquarters in Paris and Zaytun Library in Iraq.
By Lee Woo-young (
wylee@heraldcorp.com)