Concluding its run at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Layered Medium: We Are in Open Circuits marked the first exhibition in a three-year partnership between the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation and the Seoul Museum of Art. Co-curated by Maya El Khalil (MEK) and Kyung-hwan Yeo (KHY), the exhibition brought together 48 works by 28 Korean artists, tracing six decades of experimentation with media, material, and memory. In this conversation with Selections, the co-curators reflect on the curatorial process, the exhibition’s open structure, and how artworks shift meaning when encountered in new geographies.
Anastasia Nysten (AN): How did the phrase “We are in Open Circuit” by Nam June Paik, shape the architecture of the exhibition?
MEK: It’s very much about the title We Are in Open Circuit by Nam June Paik. It actually was our guiding principle because Nam June Paik, when he was experimenting with all the new media and the idea – he is coined as the father of video art – but beyond that, he was somebody who believed that technology and innovation would one day connect the whole world together and would get us closer. The history of Nam June Paik is very extensive, so probably a conversation for later, but the concept of a superhighway, of people being closer through technology, that technology is not a one-way communication system is the inspiration we took from him. And this exhibition – We Are in Open Circuit – means that we are all part of a circuit of exchange, of dialogue, of connections, of meaning-making. This also applies to the fact that the exhibition is a collaboration between Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation and the Seoul Museum of Art; it takes a much deeper and multi-layered approach since we’re exchanging knowledge, artists are doing residencies, conversations are happening between Abu Dhabi and between Seoul, and another exhibition is taking place in Seoul at the end of the year at the Seoul Museum of Art. So again, it is very much this open circuit of exchange, of sharing, of dialogues.
AN: Speaking of residencies, talks, and exchange, can you elaborate on how it all first started? What were the initial conversations like, and how did it develop to bring all of these artists together?
MEK: It basically started over a year ago with a visit from Her Excellency Mrs. Huda Kanoo to Seoul, followed by a memorandum of understanding that was signed between the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation and the Seoul City Government.
KHY: Yes, indeed, it was a memorandum of understanding between the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation and the Seoul City Government – an agreement for future cultural collaboration between the two cities.
The exhibition is not the only outcome of this partnership. It also includes a range of artistic practices, such as art residencies and research trips, all taking place under the banner of this collaboration. That’s why Maya visited Seoul last June, and I visited Abu Dhabi in November. This kind of curatorial exchange is also part of the initiative.
Another key element is the commissioning of artists for the exhibition. It actually began last year when I curated a semi-collection exhibition in Seoul, based on works from the collection developed in Abu Dhabi. That exhibition was co-curated with Maya and designed as a fresh and timely presentation tailored to audiences in Abu Dhabi.
So this partnership goes beyond a typical exhibition exchange between countries. It encompasses a broader scope of artistic practices and projects, which is exactly what we wanted. We were aiming for something more expansive and meaningful.
AN: Maya, you wrote about your first experience in Seoul as a moment of discovery. How did that inform your curatorial lens for presenting Korean works in Abu Dhabi?
MEK: When I visited Seoul, I encountered what felt like productive contradictions: an art scene that was deeply specific to its context, its histories and social realities, but one that also spoke to universal experiences of urbanisation, globalisation, modernisation and technological change. This tension between specificity and universality became central to our curatorial approach. Rather than trying to “explain” Korean art, we wanted to create frameworks that would allow audiences to encounter works through shared experiences of inhabiting our rapidly shifting, technologically mediated worlds, while remaining attentive to the unique cultural and historical contexts that shaped these artistic responses. This was how we came to understand “medium” – as the atmosphere of reception and connection between audiences, artworks, and contexts of time and place – contexts which shift and alter.
AN: Kyun-hwan, can you tell us more about your position at the Seoul Museum of Art? What have you been working on?
KHY: I have been working as a curator at the Seoul Museum of Art for over 12 years, since 2013. Before that, I was a curator at the Gyeonggi Museum of Art, under the Gyeonggi Province. In total, I’ve worked as a curator in public museums for almost 15 years.
Through this experience, I’ve co-curated and collaborated with French institutions like the KNOC, as well as other local and international organizations. However, this is my first time co-curating and working so closely with another institution and curators to develop a single exhibition together. That’s a first for me as a curator.
AN: Now that the exhibition is done, it’s interesting to hear how it has been received, especially since some artists might be unfamiliar to the audience. Some they may know, others not at all. Can you tell us how the exhibition has been perceived by UAE audiences?
KHY: Yes! In Abu Dhabi, Maya and I met with 28 exhibition interns, many were volunteers. I was struck by their dedication; nearly 70 had applied. They studied the curatorial texts and gave tours in Arabic and English. That level of engagement is rare in Korea and truly impressive.
AN: Within the show, there’s six decades of Korean contemporary art in one single exhibition. Can you tell us about the challenges, the tensions in making all pieces of this exhibition relevant and visible to the audience?
KHY: It is almost impossible to fully incorporate over 60 years of Korean contemporary art into one exhibition and expect the audience to clearly grasp the entire flow of Korean modern and contemporary art. That’s nearly an impossible task for any curator. Of course, we could approach it chronologically, dealing with the different phases of art history. Or we could focus on specific, more personal moments within Korean art history. In the end, we chose to reframe the exhibition through the lens of mediums, and to reinterpret the SEMA collection in the context of Korean art history. These became the two main conduits through which we presented the exhibition.
MEK: We’re not attempting a comprehensive survey. Instead, we focused on how shifts in medium reflect the ways artists have processed and documented change from the 1960s to today. Medium here includes not only material, but also the body, society, and space as tools to reflect lived realities.
The exhibition maps how artists have used various technologies to engage with social and technological transformation. We also considered how new meanings emerge when a collection is seen in a different context, like Abu Dhabi, where interpretations shift due to different understandings of the artists, histories, and policies behind the works.
This is why we structured the show in four sections. The opening circuit introduces the 1960s pioneers, Nam June Paik, Kim Kulim, Lee Kang-so, Lee Kun-yong, and Park Hyun-ki, using archival materials and timelines to provide context. From there, the exhibition moves through three thematic circles: body, as the first interface (physical, digital, or technical); society, as a container of memory and storytelling; and space, as both physical and imagined.
The design by Formafantasma was integral from the beginning. The exhibition doesn’t unfold linearly, there are openings, escapes, and glimpses into other spaces, encouraging movement across narratives and timelines. The goal is an open exhibition: no barriers, no closed borders, only crossings.
AN: The show includes several spectral and ghostly figures – from Hong Seung-Hye’s Ghost to Chung Seoyoung’s Ghost Will Be Better. Why do you think the ghost is such a resonant figure across cultures and mediums?
MEK: The ghost has always had cultural significance, but in the context of our technologically mediated age, it emerges as a powerful and quite visceral metaphor for how we experience the world. We are present and absent, visible and intangible. In both Korean and Arab contexts, spectral figures often represent how traditional knowledge and practices haunt our modern existence. By haunt, I mean a presence that feels both heavy and fleeting.
It isn’t only ghosts in the exhibition, but the spectral and the eerie, an uncanny feeling where we can’t quite know who or what has agency. In our digitally mediated age, we coexist in physical spaces but are distributed and remote. Where early pioneers like Nam June Paik had a vision of connectivity, now we are alienated. Works like Byungjun Kwon’s immersive sonic piece Forest of Subtle Truth 2 (2018) and Ayoung Kim’s film and game Delivery Dancer’s Sphere (2023) are interventions that show this acutely. We navigate the same physical spaces without knowing or acknowledging each other’s existences. The ghost isn’t simply a figure outside of us; it’s the haunting we’re all participating in.
AN: As part of the partnership between SeMA and ADMAF, another exhibition is planned to open in Seoul. Will it be the same show that you’re taking back or are you integrating Emirati artists within the show? Could you tell us about your plans for this exhibition?
MEK: No, it’s a completely different exhibition. The Seoul show focuses on the UAE art scene, featuring both Emirati and UAE-based artists, with distinct themes and a different curatorial approach.
The working title, Intense Proximities, reflects proximity in terms of relationships, context, and interpretation. We’re integrating this idea into the curatorial process itself. Guest curators from the UAE, Farah Al Qasimi, Ramin and Rokni Haerizadeh with Hesam Rahmanian, Mohamed Kazem, and Cristiana de Marchi will each contribute sections within the overall framework Kay and I are developing.
Like the Abu Dhabi show, it will be largely collection-based. In Abu Dhabi, we drew from the Seoul Museum of Art and institutions like MMCA. In Seoul, we’ll work with UAE collections, including ADMAF, Sharjah Art Foundation, Art Jameel, and private collections such as Zaki Nusseibeh’s and that of Sheikha Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation. We’re selecting works that align with the exhibition’s themes while also reflecting the diversity of these collections.
AN: And Kyun-hwan, how do you think this will be received in Seoul?
KHY: In Seoul, there are few opportunities to experience art from the Middle East, especially contemporary work from the UAE. This exhibition offers a rare chance for Korean audiences to engage with the concerns, perspectives, and lives of artists based in the UAE. It’s a valuable opportunity to connect with their voices through their work.