STUDIO HEECH

TIME FOR TREES by Heechan Park
A series of sensing devices and installations celebrating the Korean Pavilion’s 30 years


“Just as the monumentality of old growth forests far predates any architectural monument, an ecological approach should blur the distinction between the grown and the built, and consider both trees and buildings as equals on the site they occupy.”
Boise Sufi, “Time for trees: form should follow ecological networks” Architectural Review, 1500 April (2023): 92-100.

Time for Trees’ invites visitors to the Korean Pavilion to explore the boundaries between what was original and what was newly created, what grew from nature and what was built, the nature and the architecture. A series of spatial installations and devices named ‘A Shadow Caster,’ ‘Giardini Travelers,’ and ‘Elevated Gaze1995,’ observe the trees and landscape around the Korean Pavilion in a visual, auditory, and behavioral manner, allowing visitors to encounter the time that architecture and trees have existed together. The way the Korean Pavilion sits and exists within the Giardini della Biennale is a result of considering the surrounding trees and architecture as equals, and ‘Time for Trees’ rereads and celebrates this special relationship. Born from collaboration with various workshops in Korea, ‘Time for Trees’ is also a reflection on the contemporary significance of the long exhaustive journey that the international architecture biennale entail, marking the 30th anniversary of the “last pavilion” in the Giardini.

The white cube exhibition space of the modernists that became common in the 20th century is completely cut off from the outside world, and time disappears. On the other hand, the Korean Pavilion, which broke away from the principle of the white cube exhibition space, is transparently connected to the outside world. And the artworks encountered within it have been experienced within the context and time of the Giardini. The old Korean Pavilion, built in an attempt to minimize the impact on the site without damaging a single existing tree, accepts the surrounding landscape of the Giardini as part of the artistic experience. And the surrounding trees that have coexisted equally become the main characters of the exhibition this year.

A SHADOW CASTER

‘A Shadow Caster’ is a site-specific spatial installation that allows visitors to read and experience the shadows cast by the trees around the Korean Pavilion. ‘A Shadow Caster’ captures the patterns, shades, and subtle movements of the surrounding Giardini environment, evolving with time, seasons, and changing climate conditions. Visitors experience the relationship that the Korean Pavilion has with the vegetal and topographic conditions

GIARDINI TRAVELERS

Created in collaboration with a woodworking shop and a metal workshop in Seoul, the ‘Giardini Travelers’ are structural and modular architectural devices created for site-specific events and rituals at the Venice Biennale. Moving through various national pavilions of Giardini, they explore and celebrate the rich and intriguing histories connected to the surrounding trees and natural environment. These adaptable modular trusses can function as an observation deck, ladder, bench, seating area for visitors, stage for special events, or a setting for temporary exhibitions. In particular, in this exhibition, they are used as a ladder and bench, allowing visitors to reveal and experience the stories created through relationships with surrounding trees. ‘Giardini Travelers’ remains an ‘artwork’ that, even in the 21st century, must be created on the other side of the globe and embark on a long journey to Venice. It serves as both a ritualistic tribute and a critical inquiry into the efforts and dedication of those who create national pavilions every year, as well as the long-standing history and traditions of the Biennale.

ELEVATED GAZE 1995

‘Elevated Gaze 1995’ is inspired by the “free independence of the human gaze, tied to the human face by a cord so loose, so long, so elastic that it can stray, alone, as far as it may choose,” from Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, Swann’s Way. In this passage, the human gaze moves freely and independently, experiencing its surroundings. Through ‘Elevated Gaze 1995,’ visitors transcend the limits of their own gaze, rising higher to take in the landscape of the Giardini and the sounds of trees and forests. The long-standing story created by the equal symbiosis of architecture and trees in the Giardini is reinterpreted and shared with visitors through ‘Elevated Gaze 1995.’

Title ‘Time for Trees’ is inspired by Sufi Boise’s essay of the same title in Architectural Review (April 2023).

Project team

Digital Interaction collaborator: Yoosuk Kim (RGB lab)
Fabrication Coordinator : Il Park (Design Lab)
Technical advisor: Junhyuk Park, Junghoon Kim (Archi Terre)
Fabricator : KD-Art, Catharsis, RGB lab
Project Assistant : Yurim Kim (Studio Heech)

Time for trees

The white cube exhibition space of the modernists that became common in the 20th century is completely cut off from the outside world, and time disappears. On the other hand, the Korean Pavilion, which broke away from the principle of the white cube exhibition space, is transparently connected to the outside world. And the artworks encountered within it have been experienced within the context and time of the Giardini. The old Korean Pavilion, built in an attempt to minimize the impact on the site without damaging a single existing tree, accepts the surrounding landscape of the Giardini as part of the artistic experience. And the surrounding trees that have coexisted equally become the main characters of the exhibition this year.

Unfolding pavilion

Initial sketch

Giardini travelers

Moving through various national pavilions of Giardini, they explore and celebrate the rich and intriguing histories connected to the surrounding trees and natural environment.

Shadow caster

‘A Shadow Caster’ captures the patterns, shades, and subtle movements of the surrounding Giardini environment, evolving with time, seasons, and changing climate conditions.

Time for Trees  

Giardini Travelers

These adaptable modular trusses can function as an observation deck, ladder, bench, seating area for visitors, stage for special events, or a setting for temporary exhibitions. In particular, in this exhibition, they are used as a ladder and bench, allowing visitors to reveal and experience the stories created through relationships with surrounding trees.

Shadow Caster

‘A Shadow Caster’ captures the patterns, shades, and subtle movements of the surrounding Giardini environment, evolving with time, seasons, and changing climate conditions. Visitors experience the relationship that the Korean Pavilion has with the vegetal and topographic conditions

   

Elevated Gaze

. Through ‘Elevated Gaze 1995,’ visitors transcend the limits of their own gaze, rising higher to take in the landscape of the Giardini and the sounds of trees and forests.

Shadow Caster

‘A Shadow Caster’ is a site-specific spatial installation that allows visitors to read and experience the shadows cast by the trees around the Korean Pavilion.

   

Giardini Travelers

Created in collaboration with a woodworking shop and a metal workshop in Seoul, the ‘Giardini Travelers’ are structural and modular architectural devices created for site-specific events and rituals at the Venice Biennale.

   

   

Time for Trees

Time for Trees’ invites visitors to the Korean Pavilion to explore the boundaries between what was original and what was newly created, what grew from nature and what was built, the nature and the architecture. A series of spatial installations and devices named ‘A Shadow Caster,’ ‘Giardini Travelers,’ and ‘Elevated Gaze1995,’ observe the trees and landscape around the Korean Pavilion in a visual, auditory, and behavioral manner, allowing visitors to encounter the time that architecture and trees have existed together.

   

   

Giardini Travelers

‘Giardini Travelers’ remains an ‘artwork’ that, even in the 21st century, must be created on the other side of the globe and embark on a long journey to Venice. It serves as both a ritualistic tribute and a critical inquiry into the efforts and dedication of those who create national pavilions every year, as well as the long-standing history and traditions of the Biennale.

   

Giardini Travelers

Giardini Travelers are used as a ladder and bench, allowing visitors to reveal and experience the stories created through relationships with surrounding trees.

   

Elevated Gaze 1995

the human gaze moves freely and independently, experiencing its surroundings. Through ‘Elevated Gaze 1995,’ visitors transcend the limits of their own gaze, rising higher to take in the landscape of the Giardini and the sounds of trees and forests. The long-standing story created by the equal symbiosis of architecture and trees in the Giardini is reinterpreted and shared with visitors through ‘Elevated Gaze 1995.’