PREVIEW · GRAND OPENING of KUNSTHALLE GWANGJU

GWANGJU · PLATOON is proud to announce the grand opening of KUNSTHALLE GWANGJU on 31 august 2010 · 7pm

as a part of the project "hub city of asian culture" KUNSTHALLE GWANGJU gives a preview on the cultural program and development to come with the completion of the asian culture center in the city of gwangju in 2014. with diverse events in cooperation with young creatives from korea and abroad, and exhibitions beyond the typical concept of galleries and museums, KUNSTHALLE GWANGJU offers a new way of experiencing culture: active involvement – not passive art consumption.

for the grand opening exhibition KUNSTHALLE GWANGJU is proud to present the worldwide first complete show of all works produced by swiss art group etoy.CORPORATION. etoy's activities deal with important aspects of life, such as life and death, money and games, supply and demand on the financial market, in a smart and playful way.

the art project etoy founded in 1994 came to its notorious reputation in the mid 90s through projects like the digital hijack (1.5 milion search engine users kidnapped in 1996) and the cultural battle with eToys.com. the only available artwork in the art market is the etoy.SHARE: unique swiss stock certificates that document etoy.HISTORY and represent the idea of sharing intangible assets such as knowledge, passion and cultural value.

all artworks ask for an active participation by the visitors. besides various performances with young local artists and lectures during the whole exhibition period, etoy will also present special projects, such as the encapsulation of a person from gwangju as a test pilot for the MISSION ETERNITY project or etoy.BROOD, where children can experience and play with artworks and become a part of an art project.

* opening time: 31 august 2010, 7 pm
* exhibition time: 31 august - 7 november
* opening hours: tue - sun, 10 am - 7 pm
* program: opening of etoy exhibition, with djs etoy.STYRO and etoy.PLAYLOVE and performance by etoy



hosted by: ministry of culture, sports and tourism, office for hub city of asian culture

organized by: PLATOON KUNSTHALLE, gwangju international center

supported by: pro helvetia, swiss embassy seoul, lista office, BERNINA, Liip

here it is: the first official photo of KUNSTHALLE GWANGJU!!!

SEOUL · the grand opening will take place on the 31st august with the worldwide first complete show of all major projects of swiss art group etoy.CORPORATION.

stay tuned for more updates and pictures...

BERLIN - LIFT OFF: ETOY IS ON THE MOVE

great news! our friends are packing up their belongings and are heading over to join us in summery korea. etoy is on move! the mission eternity sarcophagi have taken off and have started their long journey from zurich over the seven seas to gwangju.

etoy will be with us as we open the gates to the black one in the family, the KUNSTHALLE GWANGJU. they will be the first exhibition in our new location that will run for approx. 10 weeks.

we'll keep you posted on the progress, but until then we wish save travels to the containers and shall see them soon on the korean side of the world!

BRAND NEW IN KOREA: KUNSTHALLE GWANGJU

finally the day arrived when KUNSTHALLE GWANGJU kicked off on 12 may its pre-opening as part of 'The Flower of May' art exhibition.

KUNSTHALLE GWANGJU is a part of the Asia Culture Complex (ACC), which is set up by the Office of Hub City of Asian Culture (HCAC) initiated by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The site of the famous citizen plaza in Gwangju has special historical meaning to the people of Gwangju for it is the main scene of the unforgettable and cruel event of 5.18, the beginning of the democratization of Korea. Nowadays the plaza is the symbol of spirit of democracy, human rights and peace. The location also serves as a bustling center of gwangju.

The ACC as the main facility of HCAC will be designed and built based on the idea to represent the following three concepts:
- a landmark of the HCAC
- a symbolic edifice reflecting the spirit of Gwangju
- a venue for daily enjoyment of culture for the general public

until its completion in 2014, KUNSTHALLE GWANGJU will function as a spearhead to the whole project and give the opportunity to previously experience the cultural development of gwangju as the new Hub City of Asian Culture.

different from any other existing architecture, the building attracts with the 29 piled up containers boxes in a structure of a quadratic cube, while the inside, which can be used as a concert hall or exhibition space, is simple and solid. KUNSTHALLE GWANGJU will be divided into several spaces. the video screen on the 3rd floor that can be seen from outside will attract the eyes of the audience. inside there will be a multifunctional space, the “art yard” as an outdoor concert stage, the art library with culture related publications and the art lounge as a place where people can meet and talk. all the spaces are designed in an experimental and flexible way so that diverse cultural contents can be presented freely different than in the usual white-cube-style museum.

KUNSTHALLE GWANGJU can be seen as an independent art project itself. the concept and program involves artists, visitors and the team to interact with each other. this creates new questions, interesting tensions and inspiring moments. cultural development will be experienced by new art strategies which pose questions of contemporary life and a global society. KUNSTHALLE GWANGJU will invite korean, asian and global artists to perform interaction art and develop new local aspects according to the city and citizens of gwangju.

GRAND OPENING ON 30 & 31 JULY

after finishing the construction, KUNSTHALLE GWANGJU will be officially opened on 30 and 31 July and start impressively with a lively cultural event. during the two days a multifaceted program and parties will take place, including an exhibition of the ACC showcase of PLATOON cultural development as well as live performances with local artists, outdoor movie screenings and parties with djs and vjs. furthermore, from 2 to 28 August the ACC showcase exhibition, diverse exhibitions and talks about cultural activities in gwangju with live performances are in preparation. every saturday night there will be movie screenings with following dj/vj afterparties.

▶ open house program from 2 to 28 august:
- guided tours
- ACC showcase exhibition: ACC cultural contents and program
- exhibition on ‘PLATOON cultural development‘
- outdoor bbq: place where all participants can enjoy food and talk
- outdoor movie nights: movie screenings in the art yard
- ‘culture of gwangju’: presentation of activities and projects by local cultural organizations and people with live performances
- afterparty with djs and vjs

※ opening hours: tue – thu 10 am – 8 pm, fri – sun 10 am – 12 am (closed on mondays)

visit our new website: www.kunsthalle-gwangju.com

TIME LAPSE CONSTRUCTION

here a nice video.. it looks very simple to build a container venue :-)

thanks to myeong-hyun kang from gwangju who did it!
music by guckkasten, title: sinkhall (씽크홀)

Kunsthalle Gwangju from PLATOON on Vimeo.

OOPS: KUNSTHALLE GWANGJU

now it is almost done.. from the outside. tom just sent this picture this morning! can't wait o see it in real..

KUNSTHALLE GWANGJU GROWS FAST!

here a short update on what is going on in the southern korean city of gwangju:

as we joined forces with the ministry of culture of krorea last year to built this new place and run it for the next years we are now speeding up to open it soon this summer.


finally summer started in korea and gives us a bright glance on the venue and its brand new containers.


as you can see the color of the containers are not olive as usual PLATOON containers but in a decent dark grey/black.


the venue will consist of 29 containers and will provide diverse facilities for creating cultural ineraction.


so stay tuned and find out how the building will finally look like!

Gateway to South East Asia: SINGAPORE

We featured a few weeks ago the visit of a Singaporean delegation from the EDB to our headquarters in berlin.

Finally we made the trip to Singapore in order to scan the cultural and arts scene and met many interesting institutions such as the singapore art museum, DesignSingapore Council, red dot Singapore, Singapore Tyler Print Institute and valentine willie fine art.

Wondering what Singapore has to offer on the local independent creative & culture side we dived into various spots and discovered The Asylum, Substation, Post-Museum, Osage and the Blackhole, a punk rock off location.

As a gateway to South-East Asia and with its multi cultural population, Singapore is an emerging vibrant spot with a lot of different facets. Strongly recommended for a visit!







Container City Singapore...













Helutrans exclusive collectors gallery














SAM currently exhibiting Contemporary Southeast Asian Art from the Singapore Art Museum Collection














Post-Museum an independent cultural and social space including a show room and contemporary vegetarian café in bustling little india














Punk night @ Blackhole








































The Substation, Singapore’s first independent contemporary arts centre located in the city’s civic district