Gucci to Celebrate South Korea’s Artistic Heritage, Influence

MILAN — Gucci is set to strengthen its ties with South Korea with its latest cultural project.

The Kering-owned brand is to debut the “Gucci Cultural Month” initiative, aimed at paying tribute to the heritage of Korean culture by spotlighting the work of personalities who have elevated local arts to global scale through various mediums.

Starting on Oct. 15 in Seoul, the initiative will see the involvement of four world-renowned talents, including conceptual artist Kimsooja, filmmaker Chan Wook Park, contemporary dancer Eun Me Ahn and pianist Seong Jin Cho. The event will celebrate their contributions through photography, videos, exhibitions, special performances and cultural lectures.

Kimsooja’s practice transcends boundaries of artistic forms through works of painting, sewing, installation, performance, video, light, sound and architecture. In the early ‘80s, she adopted sewing and wrapping as modes of painting, recontextualizing women’s domestic labor within contemporary art and placing her work at the intersection of everyday life and art. Through the years her artistic inquiry evolved to explore different issues spanning from sociopolitical to existential borders, from migration and displacement to identity to poverty and religious clashes.

Her work has been spotlighted in solo exhibitions in major international museums, as well as in more than 40 biennials — including the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013 — and large-scale site-specific projects. Kimsooja has received accolades including the Whitney Museum of American Art’s American Art Award in 2002 and the French Legion of Arts and Letters in 2017, to name a few.

One of the most prominent filmmakers of South Korean cinema, Park is best known for his “Vengeance Trilogy,” comprising the movies “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance,” “Oldboy” and “Lady Vengeance.” Winner of the Grand Prix at the 57th Cannes Film Festival, the 2003 film “Oldboy” in particular helped establish Park as a well-known director outside his native country. 

He continued to receive international acclaim with films such as “Thirst,” which won the Jury Prize at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival in 2009; “The Handmaiden,” which earned Park the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language in 2018, and “Decision to Leave,” which earned him the Best Director award at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. In addition to being among the executive producers of the “Snowpiercer” TV series, this year he co-created and directed episodes of the historical drama miniseries “The Sympathizer,” starring Robert Downey Jr. and based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

Fascinated by dance since an early age, Ahn has created and presented more than 100 avant-garde works since her primitive short piece titled “Siral” in 1986 and her first full-length production, “Paper Steps,”  in 1988. At the time she moved to New York and after garnering attention with her shaved-head look, wild moves and bizarre stage presence that portrayed an overwhelming state of grotesque human emotions, she received choreographer awards from the Manhattan Arts Foundation and the New York Cultural Foundation in 1999 and 2002, respectively. 

Upon her return to South Korea, she served as the artistic director of the Daegu City Dance Company from 2000 to 2004, creating key works such as “The Little Match-seller,” “Sky Pepper” and “Eun Me’s Chunhyang.” In 2008 and 2009, she also took on the role of artistic director for the Seoul City Spring Festival, transforming the plaza in front of City Hall into a lively dance and song festival for people of all ages.

As for Cho, the pianist rose to fame within South Korea and the international classical music scene in 2015, when he won First Prize at the Chopin International Competition in Warsaw. In 2016 he signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon and last year he was awarded the prestigious Samsung Ho-Am Prize in the Arts in recognition of his contribution to the world of classical music. Currently based in Berlin, Cho has worked with the world’s main orchestras, including Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, London Symphony Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestra, to name a few.

The Gucci Cultural Month builds on the brand’s presence in the country, which in recent years was boosted by activities ranging from the staging of the cruise 2024 fashion show at Gyeongbokgung Palace in 2023 to the unveiling of the Gucci Osteria restaurant in 2022, located on the top floor of the Gucci Gaok flagship that opened the previous year.

Through the years Gucci has also tapped a pool of pop artists as brand ambassadors, further engaging with the local audience. These include the likes of K-drama actress Park Gyu Young, “Squid Game” star Lee Jung-jae and Hanni, a lead singer of the Korean group NewJeans.