Overview
Koo Jeong A: ODORAMA CITIES at the Korean Pavilion, the 60th Venice Biennale opens its homecoming exhibition at ARKO Art Center, Seoul. Curated by Seolhui Lee and Jacob Fabricius.
The homecoming exhibition Koo Jeong A: ODORAMA CITIES at ARKO Art Center in Seoul focuses on the individual stories and ‘scents memories,’ collected through an open call process made from 25 June to 30 September, 2023. The team behind the Korean Pavilion reached out to Koreans and non-Koreans alike – anyone with a relationship to Korea – and asked the question: “What is your scent memory of Korea?” The open call for ODORAMA CITIES aimed at creating a scent portrait of the Korean peninsula generated more than 600 unique written statements. Some memories are long personal tales, while others are common and generic descriptions from Korea, boiled down to a sentence or even one word. The exhibition at ARKO Art Center offers the viewer an exceptional possibility to read all the collected scent stories in Gallery 1.
Together with Koo Jeong A, 16 international acclaimed perfumers, armed with these open call stories, took on the task of interpreting and creating the 17 distinct Korean scent experiences: City Scent, Night Air, Scent of People, Smell of Seoul, Salty Smell, Scent of Siebold’s Magnolia, Smell of Sunlight, Fog, Smell of Tree, Jangdokdae, Smell of Rice, Smell of Firewood, Grandparents’ House, Fish Market, Public Bath, Old Electronics, and last but not least ODORAMA CITIES. All the scents are displayed in Gallery 2.
Installation images: Koo Jeong A: ODORAMA CITIES, Korean Pavilion 2024, La Biennale di Venezia, ARKO Art Center, Seoul. Photo by Jeong Kyun Goh.
