The discussion will explore Chung’s pivotal role in shaping contemporary Korean sculpture, her long-standing engagement with everyday and industrial materials, and the conceptual frameworks underpinning the exhibition. Spanning works developed in 1990s Seoul to new productions created in Doha, the conversation will reflect on material, process, and cross-cultural exchange as central themes within Chung’s practice.
Chung Seoyoung (b. 1964), lives and works in Seoul, Korea. She is a leading sculptor who played a pivotal role in the formation of “Korean Contemporary Art” as a distinct category in the 1990s. Her practice critically examines the relationship between language and objects, considering them both as byproducts of rapid economic transformation and as material evidence of that process. Her works engage in a self-contained dialogue that reflects the social and material conditions of Korea during a period of rapid change. Chung studied sculpture at Seoul National University and the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart. She represented Korea at the 50th Venice Biennale and has held solo exhibitions at institutions including the Seoul Museum of Art; Portikus, Frankfurt; and the Ilmin Museum of Art, Seoul. Her work has also been featured in major group exhibitions such as the Gwangju Biennale, the Seoul Mediacity Biennale.
Hoor Al Qasimi is President and Director of Sharjah Art Foundation, the public art institution she founded in 2009 as a catalyst for contemporary art and cultural exchange in Sharjah, the UAE and internationally. Director of Sharjah Biennial since 2003, she has curated and co-curated major exhibitions for the Foundation and numerous international institutions, including the acclaimed Sharjah Biennial 15 (2023), the touring retrospective Hassan Sharif: I Am The Single Work Artist (2017–2018) and solo exhibitions of artists Simone Fattal, Rasheed Araeen, Yayoi Kusama, Farideh Lashai, Khalil Rabah, Bouchra Khalili, Emily Karaka, Antonio Dias and William Kentridge. Al Qasimi also serves as President of the International Biennial Association; President of The Africa Institute, Sharjah; Director of the Sharjah Architecture Triennial; head of Sharjah’s Global Studies University; President of the Sharjah Creative Quarter; and President of the University of the Arts Sharjah. Al Qasimi curated the 2020 Lahore Biennial and is Artistic Director of the 6th Aichi Triennale (2025) and the 25th Biennale of Sydney (2026). She received the insignia of Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, conferred by the Embassy of France in the UAE. She was appointed 2025–2026 Ambassador Extraordinary for Arab Culture by ALECSO.
Harry C. H. Choi is an art historian, curator, and writer. As an independent curator, he has led exhibitions, publications, and institutional partnerships for such institutions as Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Leeum Museum of Art, Aspen Art Museum, and more. Previously, he served on the curatorial team of the 14th Gwangju Biennale and held curatorial fellowships at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. An active critic, he has regularly contributed to several periodicals, and his writing has also appeared in many exhibition catalogues. He has been a guest critic, lecturer, and panelist at numerous institutions, including the Doha Fire Station, Hammer Museum, the University of Chicago, and Korea National University of the Arts. He received his BA from Harvard University and is completing his PhD from Stanford University with a dissertation on the emergence of experimental film in South Korea.
*Portrait Image Credit:
Hoor’s Image: Chieska Fortune Smith
Harry’s Image: Alexander Gehring