MOON KYUNGWON & JEON JOONHO IN COLLABORATION WITH URBAN-THINK TANK
29.8. – 8.11.15

The Korean artists MOON Kyungwon & JEON Joonho create works that address elemental questions concerning contemporary civilization in light of political, socioeconomic, and ecological changes. The exhibition project News from Nowhere, which they jointly initiated in 2012, is premised on a post-apocalyptic scenario: humanity has been wiped out almost entirely and is forced to reconsider long-held convictions that may no longer be tenable. The project is designed as a steadily evolving ensemble; earlier iterations were presented in Kassel (documenta 13) and Chicago. For their exhibition in Zurich, MOON & JEON collaborate with the team of Urban-Think Tank (ETH Zurich), a leading think tank for urban design and sustainable and social architecture.

With the artists, they developed the idea of a mobile agora that also underlies the exhibition architecture. The design is based on the agora of classical antiquity, which was not only an important place of assembly, but also served to constitute community and identity. Movable tribunes for the spectators transform the gallery space into a scene of interaction. A wheeled instrument based on a bicycle was developed in collaboration with sound artists. It recorded and processed sounds and pictures of the city of Zurich and extends the installation beyond the museum’s walls, connecting Zurich to cities around the world. Other partners in the exhibition and its engagement with questions of space are the Future Cities Laboratory and the Chair of Information Architecture at ETH Zurich, where scientists trained in arange of disciplines study ways to secure a sustainable future for cities. In 2014, they launched an online seminar ("Massive Open Online Course"), that is freely accessible at no charge; its purpose is to share and discuss the researchers' findings with interested students worldwide.

With generous support from the Korea Foundation Culture and Arts Support Program (2015)