'Little toad, little toad,' Venice Biennale's Korean Pavilion to explore rebirth
As the Korean Pavilion marks its 30th anniversary this year since its construction in the Giardini, the waterfront park that serves as the main venue of the Venice Biennale, curators, artists and architects are set to gather at the site to reflect on the past and future of the national pavilion and beyond, as Venice Biennale faces many changes.
The most prestigious international art and architecture biennale takes place every year, rotating between art and architecture. Venice Biennale 2025 will return for the architecture exhibition from May to November with the overarching concept of “Intelligence. Natural. Artificial. Collective,” with its main architecture exhibition curated by architect and engineer Carlo Ratii.
The Korean Pavilion will tackle the history of the national pavilion this year, using a metaphor from a traditional Korean children’s song “Little Toad, Little Toad,” commonly sung by kids as they make soil houses.
“The song’s lyrics talk about a cycle of how a house is regenerated with the words of 'old house and new house.' We related the song to the concept of the past and future of the Korean Pavilion and Venice Biennale. The biennale itself is also going through many changes, such as climate crisis,” said Chung Da-young one of the directors of the Korean Pavilion.
Climate change is an existential threat to Venice, due to the rising sea level's effect on the island city.
The exhibition at the Korean Pavilion will be curated by the Curating Architecture Collective that consists of Chung, Kim Hee-jung and Jung Sung-kyu. Four architects and artists will show works at the national pavilion: Kim Hyun-jong of Alelier KHJ, Park Hee-chan of Studio Heech, Yang Ye-na of Plastique Fantastique and Lee Da-mi of Flora and Fauna.
The Korean Pavilion’s presentation will be based on thorough research of the 30-year-old national pavilion located in the corner of the Giardini. The research is being conducting thoroughly on the condition of not disturbing existing trees and topography. The collective curators will tackle how the national pavilion reflects respect to nature in an architectural approach.
The glass-and-steel structure of the Korean Pavilion was designed in a collaboration of Korean architect Kim Seok-chul and Venice's own Franco Mancuso.
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