Sculpting Ties: Expanded Histories of Cultural Diplomacy from Korea

Responding to the ASEAN Sculpture Garden Symposium, as well as the unique cultural collaboration that KONNECT ASEAN has embodied in contributing to the digital preservation of its history, this panel expands its lens beyond the ASEAN nations to consider how sculpture and monument-making have figured prominently into Korea’s cultural diplomacy.

This panel will discuss various examples of how this has developed, including the first exhibition of contemporary Korean art supported by UNESCO that travelled to Southeast Asia, an artist documentary project on monuments and buildings built by North Korea in Africa, a photo-sculpture exhibition at Nam-Seoul Museum of Art, as well as the recent collaboration between KONNECT ASEAN and the Gallery to digitise sculptures across Southeast Asia.

This panel is organised in conjunction with the exhibition “Nothing is Forever: Rethinking Sculpture in Singapore” and is generously supported by KONNECT ASEAN @AseanfoundationOrganisation. It features Seng Yu Jin, Ben Hampe, Sooyoung Leam, Onejoon Che and Jin Kwon in conversation with Kathleen Ditzig.