‘Swiss Weeks in Seoul’ presents various cultural events throughout April


Though it is hard to call it a house, the 10-meter-tall disorderly structure made of hundreds of fir planks had an entrance, bedrooms and even a small dining room-like place with a table.

“It connects to my childhood nostalgia, it is kind of like a tree house,” Gregory Chapuisat told The Korea Herald on Tuesday. Chapuisat and his brother ― who could not make it to Seoul this time ― is known as the Swedish Chapuisat Brothers who build unique wooden architectural installations.

He was just finishing up the installation “Resonance” he has been building inside SongEun ArtSpace in Cheongdam-dong, southern Seoul, since the first week of January. Claiming that he has been living a “nomadic life” since 2000, the artist said that his building of such houses is similar to spiders spinning webs. 

“When artists visit other places to hold exhibitions, they usually arrive right before the start of the show. But I refuse to work like that. I arrive a few weeks or months early to learn the society, its culture and traditions. My nomadic life did not begin because of my philosophy but because of my lifestyle of having to move from exhibition to exhibition,” he explained.

“Yes, in some places I live in my installation,” he said, adding that he wanted to do so here as well but the gallery did not allow it due to security concerns.

It is a pity that visitors here do not get to catch the artist actually living in the installation, but they can still climb it up. Chapuisat said that he and his assistants sometimes have soju (Korean liquor) parties at the top of the “house.”

It takes him some time to fully digest the new culture he experiences each time but he eventually does and the results are reflected in the works. After spending half a year in China, for example, he was surprised to see his work turned out to be very “Chinese.”

“It contained the unique sadness and longing we felt from the Chinese people while traveling there,” he said. He and his brother canceled other schedules and extended the stay, totally mesmerized by the exotic culture.

“You know the American Indians’ saying, ‘It is not good to travel faster than walking,’” he said.

Like the brothers’ “tree house,” other exhibits found at the show “Reflections from Nature: Collection Cahiers d’Artistes” are reminiscent of the slow-paced living and are close to nature, which is not too distant from how Koreans think of Switzerland, the land of the Alps.

The exhibition introduces four teams of young Swiss artists ― the Chapuisat Brothers, Franziska Furter, Adrien Missika and Luc Aubort ― who were selected from the Swiss Art Council’s “Collection Cahiers d’Artistes” project which supports promising artists.

Missika is showcasing a video work in which he reveals his awareness of nature through clips of landscapes and infinite spaces while Aubort’s room is composed of his collection of abandoned wooden furniture or particular objects he encountered in life.

The art exhibition is a part of the “Swiss Weeks in Seoul” project launched by the Embassy of Switzerland in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Korea-Switzerland diplomatic relations.

The project, which aims to show the lesser known aspects of Switzerland, also includes “Nights of Sounds & Lights,” a sound and light performance which will be projected in 3-D at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts from March 22-25; “Design Prize Switzerland,” a design exhibition of the projects nominated for the most important design prize in Switzerland at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts from March 22 to April 1 and at KT&G Sangsang Madang from April 5 to May 6; and “Drivers of Green Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Korean and Swiss Initiatives in the New World of Business,” a symposium combined with lectures by leading Swiss and Korean experts in the fields on April 3. 

“The ‘Swiss Weeks in Seoul’ has been initiated to promote innovative and forward-looking Switzerland first to the Korean public prior to the official opening of the Swiss Pavilion at the Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea. I am confident that this program will serve as good opportunities to rediscover Switzerland’s attraction and encourage the cultural exchange between two countries,” said Thomas Kupfer, the ambassador of Switzerland to Korea, on Thursday at SongEun ArtSpace.

Swiss pavilion will open under the theme “The Source, It’s in your hands” during the Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea from May 12 to Aug. 12.

For more information on the art exhibition, call (02) 3448-0100 or visit www.songeunartspace.org. For details on “Swiss Weeks in Seoul,” visit the Swiss Embassy website at www.eda.admin.ch/seoul/.

By Park Min-young  (claire@heraldcorp.com)