TONG’s VINTAGE

In commemoration of the 2021 P4G Seoul Summit, Daelim Museum presents TONG’s VINTAGE: The Strange Tongui General Store as an opportunity to think about how we can deal with climate change through sustainable development.

This exhibition focuses on objects that have been discarded for being old or used resulting in producing greenhouse gases. The concept “VINTAGE” in the exhibition expands beyond the scope of furniture or household goods bearing traces of time; rather, it reflects all objects that inspire artists in new ways to be reborn in new forms of artworks through the artists’ creativity. The exhibition title “TONG’s VINTAGE” literally translates as “Tongui Vintage” in Korean, which is taken from the address of the museum in Tongui-dong. The exhibition space provokes the audience’s curiosity and presents various fantastic spectacles, transforming into an oddity shop where old items are granted a new life through the hands of the participating artists.

The exhibition consists of a total of seven sections. As you move towards the upper floors, each section represents a different material based on the time it takes to decompose in nature, from the slowest to the fastest; starting with glass, to plastic, iron, fabric, wood, paper, and ecofriendly materials on the top floor. In the first section “Gorgeous Glass,” moonassi and Henn Kim’s monotone illustrations with glass and mirrors in the background demonstrate the relationship between nature and humans. Meanwhile, plastic wastes are revived with a new purpose in the second section “Playful Plastic.” It includes Seotudio’s animations that humorously raise awareness for environmental movements, Haneul Kim’s furniture made with scrap fabric from a disposable mask factory, Youngmin Kang’s stools made with wasted plastic pipes, and finely shredded pieces of plastic waste are put together to create various household goods by LOWLIT COLLECTIVE.

The third section “Irony Iron” presents HaeKang LEE and CURVESIGN’s drawings on steel or metal debris, as well as NiNE-Ist’s video works that remind us of the seriousness of environmental issues. The next section, “Fabulous Fabric,” starts with An Min Ju’s 3D animation inspired by the patterns on fashion accessories. Works by OPEN PLAN uses vegan materials to seek sustainable fashion, and JUST PROJECT finds new uses for leftover scraps of cloths. This fourth section also highlights piecemoa’s works that turn discarded scraps of fabric into useful and valuable objects, Jinyeong Yeon’s chairs made of goose down jackets bound to be thrown away, as well as typographic works by KyuHyung Cho in the form of rag dolls with an environmental message. The “Wonderful Wood and Painted Paper” section showcases Boooruru and soon.easy’s illustrations that treat environmental subject matters. There’s also intriguing furniture by GyuHan Lee, where paper cardboard boxes are turned into pieces of furniture. The last section “Magical Material” presents Kuo Duo’s masks made of biodegradable materials, Ryu Jong Dae’s furniture made of an eco-friendly material made from corn starch, and WKND lab’s household items made of bioplastic. Along with these pieces, Hyunsu Kim’s neon messages and nosestudio’s media artworks convey a powerful message about climate and environmental change.

From Bill Gates’s efforts for zero greenhouse emission to the teenage environmental activist Greta Thunberg, people’s desires for a sustainable lifestyle at the peak of the climate crisis is a pressing issue not only for individuals and nations but for all generations. TONG’s VINTAGE: The Strange Tongeui General Store is not about the dark and devastating future that climate change may bring, but rather suggests that the actions and gestures we take in hopes to create a better environment should be embraced as a movement of hope and enlightenment.