Leeum Unveils "Gabriel Orozco Garden" on Outdoor Deck

Open Free to the Public from April 3
A Public Garden for Walking and Gathering, Transforming the Vertical Sculpture Space

The Leeum Museum of Art announced on March 30 that it will unveil the site-specific installation, "Gabriel Orozco Garden," conceived by Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco, on its outdoor deck starting April 3.

This project is the museum's first commission-based garden project since its opening in 2004. It goes beyond the conventional format of an outdoor sculpture garden by expanding the meaning of the deck into a site-specific environment where architecture, nature, and public experience coexist.

Until now, the Leeum Museum’s outdoor deck has featured large-scale sculptures such as Alexander Calder's "Grand Drapery," Louise Bourgeois' "Maman," and Anish Kapoor's "Tall Tree and the Eye," functioning as a space for vertical, monumental forms. Orozco's new garden, however, transforms this tradition into a horizontal environment where visitors can walk, linger, and experience the passage of time.

The garden spans the entire deck, covering approximately 1,650 square meters, and is based on the motif of "arrangement of circles," a recurring theme in Orozco's work. Large and small circles connect to form a continuous sequence of spaces called "Plaza 1" through "Plaza 10," and each area features variations in flooring, patterns, plantings, and bench arrangements.

Boryeong stone, quarried in Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province, was used for the ground, while the original Jaranok timber decking was recycled as exterior finishing material for the building. The garden includes 17 pine trees, 11 plum trees, and about 1,500 bamboo plants, as well as white-flowering plants such as Viburnum, Deutzia, Rosa multiflora, and Parnassia palustris.

The Leeum Museum explained that this garden marks the third installment in Orozco's decade-long series of garden-sculpture projects. It follows the 2016 "Orozco Garden" at South London Gallery in the UK and the master plan project for Chapultepec Park in Mexico City. For this project, Orozco incorporated the East Asian traditional concept of "Sehansamwoo"—the pine, bamboo, and plum trees—using them as the botanical and conceptual framework.

Kim Sungwon, Deputy Director of the Leeum Museum of Art, commented, "The essence of Gabriel Orozco’s garden-sculpture lies not in dazzling monuments, but in enduring time—not in spectacle, but in patience."

The "Gabriel Orozco Garden" will be open free of charge to all visitors during the museum's opening hours.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.