JAE-EUN CHOI

Throughout the exhibition, Choi suggests multifaceted interpretations and reimaginations of the ‘forest,’ a subject of persistent interest in her oeuvre. Strewn across the first floor of K2, the series of paintings titled From the Forest draws from the artist’s daily experience of strolling in wooded ecologies. Collecting various autumn leaves and flower petals during her walks through the forest located in the neighbourhood of Kyoto where she currently resides, the artist utilized these natural materials as pigments for paint, applying them onto her canvases. Consisting of chromatic variations ranging from coral to earthy and light brown hues, each pictorial plane is characterised by a singular palette that eschews representation but can be described as a faithful portrait of the forest in which the artist walked. Inscribed on the surface of the paintings are graphite transcriptions of ambient sounds—such as whistling of the wind, bird song, and rainfall—that Choi encountered while strolling. For instance, Sar r r r r (2025) refers to the sonic translation of the falling leaves in late autumn, while Hu u u u (2025) is based on the sound of a mountain echo from distant mountains beyond the forest.

Choi’s sensory analysis of the light and sound of the forest continues on the second floor of K2 through multidisciplinary experiments including text-based work, sculpture, and video. Installed on the floor of K2 is Monologue of a Tree (2025), a poem written by Choi, which conveys an intimate story of trees that she encountered in the forest. Forming a visual harmony with the body of sculptures that include gold leaves on twigs, the poem provides a multivalent narrative of the forest. Meanwhile, the video work Flows (2010) is on display further inside the exhibition space. Depicting the base of a giant, old tree in a slow 360-degree rotation, the work invites the viewer to confront the sublime manifestations of the epic flow of time in the form of complex inscriptions on the bark.

K3 introduces the DMZ Project that the artist has developed over the past decade. Initially conceived under the title of Dreaming of Earth, Choi’s DMZ Project has been recategorised under a new title Nature Rules, in which the artist has undertaken more structured research into the ecological recovery of the DMZ in the Korean peninsula. A culmination of years of dedication, the project involves an in-depth analysis of the ecological conditions of the DMZ and an organisation of data concerning the types and quantity of plant species required for the ecological restoration of each region. The artist has proposed a ‘dream’ solution consisting of making small seed bombs—measuring three to five centimetres in diameter that contain tree seeds—and sowing them from the air via drones, over the DMZ, where millions of landmines remain buried. Through this project, Choi seeks to promote a collective dream for the future of this contested land, a dream that searches for potential and actual collaborators who can help materialise this vision.

On the computer installed inside each folding screen, produced with dried flower petals that Choi collected during her daily forest walks, the viewer can access the website for Nature Rules and register to make a ‘promise’ of seed bomb donations in the desired region by browsing the map of the DMZ. In this project designed to allow visitors to make a donation at the cost of KRW 100 per bomb, the seed bomb serves not only as a specific method, but also as an intermediary network that connects participants to each other in the process of recovering the forest of the DMZ. The artist named this platform and initiative New Alliance, a concept forged by the renowned Belgian physical chemist Ilya Prigogine, which implies a harmonious existence of men within the natural order. Contrary to Choi’s initial expectation, the ecological environment inside the DMZ was undergoing severe degradation. As revealed in the process of carrying out the ‘DMZ Ecological Forest Plan,’ the artist realised that the fragmentation of the DMZ’s ecosystem was more intense than the public’s perception as a result of prolonged military interventions by both South and North Korea. Through this project—open to anyone across the globe without the constraint of boundaries—Choi envisions the recovery of nature’s sovereignty as well as the establishment of a foundation for a new hope built on universal consensus and shared values.