Ewha Womans University has kicked off the first and only university-led international media art fair on its campus, marking both the university’s 140th anniversary and 20 years since the death of pioneering video art founder Nam June Paik.
The Ewha Media Art Presentation, known as EMAP, was founded in 2001, following Paik’s appointment as the university’s distinguished professor.
The 15th edition of the event, which began on Monday and runs through Saturday, brings together 40 artists and collectives from 17 countries under the title “A Million Silver Bamboo: The Rain We Share.”
The artists span generations, including Paik, Argentine artist Nicolas Garcia Uriburu, Belgian artist Marcel Broodthaers and American artist Jud Yalkut, alongside works by Ewha students selected through an open call.
“EMAP began with the experimental spirit of Nam June Paik and has since grown into an international media art event,” said Moon Kyung-won, dean of Ewha’s College of Art and Design. “We hope the campus, marking the university’s 140th anniversary, will expand into a space where art, education, public life and ecological futures intersect.”
Highlights include “Electronic Moon No. 2,” an early collaborative video work between Paik and Yalkut that explores the materiality of the medium and the passage of time.
Works are exhibited across the campus from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., including at the university’s iconic Ewha Campus Complex, designed by French architect Dominique Perrault.
A special exhibition at Lee San Bong Hall reexamines Paik through the lens of media ecology, highlighting his pioneering exploration of the relationship between humans, machines and nature in the technological environment shaped by television and video.
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