Entering a darkened space, low smoke hung in the air. A siren sounded, and a light fell across the face. “You are now inside my work,” a woman’s voice echoed. It was Non-Physical Exhibition (Muchejeon) by JUNG Kangja (1942–2017), her first solo exhibition held at the National Public Information Center in Seoul in 1970. It was dismantled after just three days following a government order that regarded avant-garde art as political agitation. Known for her provocative performance and experimental work, JUNG Kangja, shaken by this experience, spent the rest of her life focusing solely on painting.
The Non-Physical Exhibition, which had previously remained only in the form of the artist’s notes and sketches, along with contemporaneous articles, will be reconstructed and presented 56 years later at Leeum Museum of Art in Hannam-dong, Seoul.
