Returning for its 17th edition this year, Maison Guerlain's perennial partnership with Art Basel Paris is set to present Good Morning Korea, In the Land of the Morning Calm. The exhibition will spotlight South Korean artists from all walks of life, including the late Nam June Paik, Lee Bul, and Anicka Yi, among others.
Besides pushing boundaries in fragrances and beauty, Guerlain remains dedicated to the principles of heritage and innovation. Guerlain is also committed in providing a platform for artists to showcase their creativity, believing that art has the unique ability to evoke and share memories—be it personal or collective. It's no surprise then that South Korea was chosen as a focus this time around. South Korea's impact as the creative muse of the Western world embodies this philosophy, with its wealth of artistic ideas providing a look into the perspectives of a growing arts and culture nation.
Good Morning Korea, In the Land of the Morning Calm is curated by Hervé Mikaeloff, the exhibition invites visitors to explore memory through a multi-sensory experience in the form of an olfactory journey that links several works, subtly connecting visual and scent-based memories.
The works featured in the exhibition highlight the profound connections South Korean artists have with nature, technology, and the challenges of contemporary society, guiding us through the timeline of South Korea's cultural evolution and its rich, diverse heritage.
An icon in performance and technology-based art, the late Nam June Paik was the first artist to display abstract forms on television by using magnets to distort images. He also famously pioneered the use of portable video cameras—what we now refer to as "digicams". He firmly believed that technology will reinvent the way we create and share art, foreseeing a future of camcorders, live-streaming, and social media. Nam skilfully merged Eastern and Western influences, transforming our inward gaze into an endless technological quest.
Lee is known for her bold, genre-crossing works that explore themes of beauty, corruption, and decay. A pioneer in South Korea's art scene, she continues to inspire younger artists with her early iconoclastic performances and multi-sensory installations, pushing the boundaries of visual art. Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions at major museums worldwide, including the Hayward Gallery in London, Berlin's Martin Gropius-Bau, and Paris' Palais de Tokyo, just to name a few.
Good Morning Korea, In the Land of the Morning Calm will feature Lee's work that delves into ideas of perfection and the distorted realities of modern identity, blending feminine forms with robotic elements to create cyborgs.
Anicka Yi explores the hidden politics and associations of smell by creating unique fragrances, and incorporating scent into sculptures. She constantly pushes the boundaries of science, technology and art, aiming to create new, unsettling and futuristic experiences that challenge traditional notions of her artwork. Her work has been showcased at prominent venues the likes of the Tate Modern in London, and even in Singapore's Art Science Museum.
Yi uses algorithms to create holographic paintings, blending patterns from past work (her "visual DNA") with motifs that draw from both the organic and the technological, raising questions about how art can evolve in the digital age.
Beginning her career as a novelist, Omyo Cho has evolved to create artworks that reflect her literary roots—from sculptures, to installations and VR videos that exist as nonlinear phenomena on a different level. Cho's works have been showcased in numerous group exhibitions including the Surim Art Center, Ulsan Contemporary Art Festival, and Osan Museum of Art. Cho's piece for the exhibition, "Barrel Eyes", invites the audience to envision a future where memories take on concrete forms in real time, redefining our understanding of time and memory.
The Good Morning Korea, In the Land of the Morning Calm exhibition will run from 16 October to 12 November 200 at Maison Guerlain, 68 avenue des Champs-Elysées, 75008 Paris.
In a world where smartwatches threaten to render traditional timepieces obsolete, Breitling is reminding us why the mechanical machines strapped to our wrists will never go out of style. The Swiss watchmaker, known for equipping the wrists of pilots, divers, and the occasional Bond villain, is celebrating its 140th anniversary with a globe-trotting exhibition that doubles as a history lesson. Dubbed "Time Capsule: The Breitling Heritage Exhibition," this travelling showcase is less about selling watches and more about flexing 140 years of innovation. It's a greatest hits album but instead of chart-toppers, you're getting important timepieces that changed the game.
Take the 1915 mono-pusher for instance, the first watch that separated the chronograph functions from the crown, a move so revolutionary it's akin to inventing the steering wheel for cars. Or how about the 1942 Chronomat. The world's first smartwatch, long before Apple thought different. It came with a circular slide rule that basically turned your wrist into a mini-computer. Ahead of its time, I know.
These are watches that have literally been to space (hello, Cosmonaute) and saved lives (we're looking at you, Emergency), so it’s worth checking out. The exhibition is making 55 stops across four continents, and is currently in Singapore from now until 4th August at the Breitling boutique raffles city.
Time Capsule: The Breitling Heritage Exhibition is located at #01-35 Raffles City Shopping Centre 252 North Bridge Road, Singapore