Undo Planet is an exhibition that re-examines climate change and ecosystem issues through the lens of “memory.” The word “undo” has the meaning of “returning something to its original state,” but it also can be defined as “opening” or “unfastening.” By the same token, Undo Planet uses art as a medium to imagine the memories of our planet Earth, the things that future communities will remember based on our practices, and the new ecosystem possibilities to come.

Undo Planet started in 2023 based on site-specific researches conducted in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province located in the geographical center of the Korean Peninsula, and developed into an exhibition seeking to explore actions for a sustainable future and coexistence between human and nature. Starting in 2023, Dan Lie worked with Cheorwon Seokdam Straw Transmission Society, Haegue Yang collaborated with Seoul National University’s Climate Lab, and ikkibawiKrrr engaged with Cheorwon’s Yangji-ri Village. Meanwhile, Tarek Atoui partnered with Cheorwon-based children choir group ‘Children Singing for Peace,’ and Young In Hong collaborated with DMZ Peace Town For Migratory Cranes. These five artists/teams conducted in-depth field research and workshops, leading to an exhibition featuring a total of 17 artists/teams. The exhibition is structured around three key themes: “Community,” “Non-human,” and “Land Art.”

The exhibition features works of artists who collaborated and engaged with the “community”. Tarek Atoui features a video of the workshop that the artist conducted with the children of Cheorwon, where they explored new ways to perceive sound. Dan Lie showcases a drawing that reflects site-responsive reactions to diverse cultural engagements, while Pangrok Sulap contributes prints capturing their collaborative experience with the riverbank communities in Chiang Khong, Thailand.

“Non-human” presents the works of artists who move beyond human-centered perspectives, shedding light on the intricate connections between humans, animals, plants and environment. Haegue Yang presents Raw Study Version of Yellow Dance (2024), a video work that looks back on the human world permeated with the history of division, the Cold War, tension, and conflict, featuring a honeybee named Bonghee as the main character, along with two new sculptures based on two types of ready-made beehives for beekeeping with disparate materials and appearances. Young In Hong created shoes for a family of cranes that migrates to Cheorwon in the winter using the craftsmanship of straw-weaving, while Simon Boudvin documents fox interactions with residents and their way of life in the city. ikkibawiKrrr created a rhapsody of video, graffiti and performances using leaf flutes, inspired by plants within the Civilian Control Line near the Demilitarized Zone. In addition, with the support of the Ministry of Culture Denmark and Embassy of Denmark, a video by Nanna Elvin Hansen which investigates manmade structures that control Earth’s raw materials and ground based on long-term research on the quartzite quarry, and Silas Inoue’s small ecosystem in which microorganisms thrive will also be featured in the exhibition.

Furthermore, Undo Planet examines the activities and archive materials of artists who took on aesthetic, scientific, and participatory challenges towards ecology and the environment in the 1970s and 1980s. Known as trailblazers in Land Art, Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty [film] (1970) and Nancy Holt’s Sun Tunnels [film] (1978) will be featured, along with the paintings and archive materials of Rim Dongsik, who pioneered a new direction for nature art. Additionally, the exhibition highlights the works of Shimabuku, who records the process of his attempts to intervene in nature through photos and videos; SIDE CORE, who captures the changes in the seabed topography due to the earthquake that struck the Noto Peninsula in Japan in January 2024; Dane Mitchell, who creates a smellscape that embodies the relationship between artificial and natural through olfactory works; and Hashel Al Lamki who depicts natural and urban scenes on discarded fabric. Collectively, these works demonstrate how contemporary artists of today inherit and expand the discourse of “Land Art.” Lastly, a letter transcribed by Danh Vo’s father will implicate Art Sonje Center’s continuous attempts to achieve a sustainable future through contemporary art.

Undo Planet bears connections with several previous Art Sonje Center exhibitions. To begin with, it is another exhibition on themes of the climate crisis and ecological concerns after the 2022 exhibitions MOON Kyungwon & JEON Joonho: Seoul Weather Station and World Weather Network, which it presented as a member of the World Weather Network—an association formed in 2021 among art groups with an interest in issues of climate change and the biodiversity crisis. Additionally, the long-term Real DMZ Project, which was launched in 2012, has partnered with the Art Sonje Center on various forms of research and artistic practice relating to the DMZ. As it concludes two years of contemplation, the exhibition also heralds a new beginning. Themes of the climate crisis, ecology, and nature are beyond the scope of any single exhibition. Moving forward, Art Sonje Center will continue working with artists to engage in research, experiences, creation, and ideas related to issues of the climate and sustainable living, while sharing them with viewers through exhibitions and projects.

Artist Talk
Artist: Haegue Yang
Dates: Sat, Dec 7, 2024 at 16:00
Venue: Art Hall, Art Sonje Center

Reading List
1. Bee Crisis, Human Crisis: Why Our Fates Are Interconnected
Lecturer: Yoori Cho (Seoul National University Climate Lab Senior Researcher)
Dates: Thu, Jan 9, 2025 at 19:00
Venue: Online

2. A Sedimentation of the Mind: Earth Projects
Lecturer: Lisa Le Feuvre (Executive Director of Holt/Smithson Foundation)
Dates: Thu, Jan 16, 2025 at 19:00
Venue: Online

Publication
Undo Planet includes essays by two curators Sunjung Kim and Jina Kim, sharing exhibition making process, along with introductions to the artists and their works. Additionally, it features Robert Simthson’s essay A Sedimentation of the Mind: Earth Projects, originally published in Artforum in 1968.