[in-enaction] S(E)OUL SCAPE. Towards a New Urbanity in Korea,

South Korea in the last decades has experienced an unprecedented series 
of transformations at all levels in society: in the economics, in the 
culture, and in the politics. More specifically its capital Seoul has 
become in the last few years one of the densest urban zones in the 
world. After a long period of dictatorship and along with an 
extraordinary process of economic development that characterized the 
last years, South Korea opened up to experimentation in all major arts, 
not least architecture. And architecture is at the center of the 
exhibition curated by Francisco Sanin, which presents an overview on the 
research which revolves around that emerging yet configured urban 
landscape that constitutes this unique city and is continuously 
engulfing the entire population of the South Korean peninsula.

The S(E)OUL SCAPE. Towards a New Urbanity in Korea exhibition opening 
will take place on January 24th, 2008 at 7PM in the SESV gallery in 
Florence. From here the event, made in cooperation with the Municipality 
of Florence and the University of Florence, will travel to the main 
European and international cities, hosted by prestigious galleries and 
by those institutions which are most sensitive to contemporary architecture.

Six among the most well known Korean architects are the protagonists of 
this evolution. Their work represents an ongoing research and 
exploration, a critical view to the processes taking place in this 
unique context. Chung Guyon, Joh Sung-yong, Kim Young-joon, Min 
Hyun-sik, Seung H-sang, Yi Jong-ho represent the generation of those who 
have been able to trigger a debate, an interaction, a research which is 
aimed at rousing Korea from a feverish moment of great political 
turmoil. Their architecture testifies the consequences of this 
transformation. It ripened over time and is permeated by the several 
investigations and relations with the international experience.

The architects featured in the exhibition will present, after an 
introduction by Francisco Sanin and Pai Hyung-min, the lines of their 
research during the conference that will take place on January 24th at 
4PM in the Salone dei Duecento of Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. Gianni 
Biagi, Councillor for Urban Planning at the Municipality of Florence, 
Raimondo Innocenti, Dean of the School of Architecture in Florence, and 
Marco Brizzi, curator of the SESV gallery of the University of Florence 
and director of iMage www.image-web.org will attend.

The S(E)OUL SCAPE. Towards a New Urbanity in Korea exhibition is 
supplemented by a catalogue (80 pages, full color, in English) released 
by episode publishers www.episode-publishers.nl.

The exhibition is part of the program of traveling exhibitions produced 
and organized by iMage.


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