Stefano Boeri Architetti has designed a site-specific pavilion made of a traditional Korean paper-folding technique and tangram for the 59th Venice Art Biennale which will open to the public from 23 April to 27 November 2022 in Italy. 

The pavilion, called Hanji House, is visible from the Grand Canal of Venice with its four-pyramidal roofs. The pavilion was designed to be in dialogue with an exhibition, titled Chun Kwang Young: Times Reimagined, as part of the Art Biennale. 

The exhibition features 40 large-scale mulberry-paper reliefs, sculptures and installations created by the Korean artist Chun Kwang Young at the Palazzo Contarini Polignac in Venice.

"Hanji" is the name of a traditional Korean paper made technique deriving from mulberry, also known as the "thousand years paper" due to its great resistance. 

The technique is also used as Chun’s prime tool of creation, which he uses to shape metamorphotic creatures reminiscent of living beings or spectacular scenes with historical and cultural symbolism.

Boeri's pavilion has been installed in the Palazzo’s gardens, overlooking the Grand Canal in Venice, the Hanji House is a wooden pavilion, a practical model of "paper-tree architecture" and it looks as a lantern from a distance. 

Stefano Boeri Architetti has designed a site-specific pavilion made of a traditional Korean paper-folding technique. Courtesy CKY. Image © Alice Clancy

Boeri takes inspiration from the playful and yet meditative practice of folding paper in an infinite number of ways. 

The shape of the pavilion "recalls ancient East Asian practices of paper-folding and tangram, besides the traditional Korean and East Asian houses, based on simple geometric modularity." 

The pavilion is made of a simple combination of volumes: four pyramids on the top of a parallelepiped, defining a planar surface shaped as a regular rhombus in the middle.

Installation views “Chun Kwang Young: Times Reimagined”, 2022, Palazzo Contarini Polignac, Venice. Courtesy CKY Studio. Image © Alice Clancy

From the outside, the envelope gives the Hanji House the appearance of a precious and at the same time playful object, it looks like a lighthouse to illuminate both the splendid Renaissance architecture in which it is located and the works of art that surround it.

Inside the Hanji House, visitors will encounter a real-time interactive art installation is being developed by media artist Calvin J. Lee. 

Lee transformed triangular hanji packages created by artist Chun Kwang Young into virtual form. 

The tranquil environment inside Hanji House offers an immersive space for visitors to unwind and explore their inner selves as if walking through the interior of Chun’s works.

Installation views “Chun Kwang Young: Times Reimagined”, 2022, Palazzo Contarini Polignac, Venice. Courtesy CKY Studio. Image © Alice Clancy

Chun Kwan Young has been working for 30 years under the theme of the interconnectedness between living beings and the socio-ecological values of their relationships. In ecology, interconnectedness is an absolute factor for the reproduction and survival of all living things, as well as an essential for ensuring biodiversity and enhancing sustainability in any adverse conditions.

The Hanji House will be open to the public from April 23 to 27 November 2022 during the Venice Art Biennale. 

Installation views “Chun Kwang Young: Times Reimagined”, 2022, Palazzo Contarini Polignac, Venice. Courtesy CKY Studio. Image © Alice Clancy

The official opening of the Chun Kwan Young: Times Reimagined exhibition and the Hanji House takes place with an academic forum on Thursday 21 April 2022 at 2pm and an Opening Ceremony at 7pm.

The Academic Forum is titled "The Art and Built Environment in the Age of Ecological Crisis".

Installation views “Chun Kwang Young: Times Reimagined”, 2022, Palazzo Contarini Polignac, Venice. Courtesy CKY Studio. Image © Alice Clancy

The forum will gather biologists, philosophers, artists, architect, activist, critics and curators to propose constructive plans to respond to the current situations, tackling against the rapid decline of biodiversity and staggering ecological imbalance.

At the forum speakers are Stefano Boeri, Choe Jaechun, Otobong Nkanga, Sam Bardaouil, Li Xiangning, Andrew Brewerton, Lucia Pietroiusti, Jean-Marie Gallais.

Installation views “Chun Kwang Young: Times Reimagined”, 2022, Palazzo Contarini Polignac, Venice. Courtesy CKY Studio. Image © Alice Clancy

Installation views “Chun Kwang Young: Times Reimagined”, 2022, Palazzo Contarini Polignac, Venice. Courtesy CKY Studio. Image © Alice Clancy

Installation views “Chun Kwang Young: Times Reimagined”, 2022, Palazzo Contarini Polignac, Venice. Courtesy CKY Studio. Image © Alice Clancy

Installation views “Chun Kwang Young: Times Reimagined”, 2022, Palazzo Contarini Polignac, Venice. Courtesy CKY Studio. Image © Alice Clancy

Palazzo Contarini Polignac for “Chun Kwang Young: Times Reimagined”, 2022. Courtesy CKY Studio, Copyright © Alice Clancy

Exhibition facts

Promoted by: Boghossian Foundation

Supported by: Museum Ground, Interart Channel

Exhibition Duration: 23 April – 27 November 2022

Press Preview: 20th – 22nd April 2022

Academic Forum: 2pm, 21st April 2022

Opening Ceremony: 7pm, 21st April 2022

Venue: Palazzo Contarini Polignac, Dorsoduro 874, Venice

Instagram: @timesreimagined

Curator: Yongwoo Lee

Curatorial Adviser: Manuela Lucà-Dazio

Stefano Boeri Architetti

Founding Partner: Stefano Boeri

Project leader: Anastasia Kucherova

Top image: Stefano Boeri Architetti's pavilion design. Courtesy CKY. Image © Alice Clancy.

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