A Premature but Significant Birth: The Beginning of Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale and its Aftermath

Abstract

Korean Pavilion is the last national pavilion at Giardini della Biennale in Venice, completed in 1995. This paper explores the unknown history of the pavilion that appeared in the ‘year of art’ of South Korea and the centennial anniversary of the Venice Biennale under the legitimated idealistic name of “Korean” Pavilion. It investigates the politics of the pavilion’s beginning and argues its significance as a premature, but earliest platform of Korean architecture. Also, it observes developing discourse on architecture exhibition and its archive in contemporary Korean architecture reflected in the Korean Pavilion in the last decade. As a result, this paper discusses the pavilion’s ironic contrast, oscillating between its start made in the politics of the national pavilion at the Venice Biennale, and its transformation into being the oldest and most representative architectural platform for Korean architecture.