'Nabi' Leaves SK After 26 Years... Director No Soyoung Begins Anew in Sagan-dong

Reopening Exhibition on June 11: Han Jinsu Solo Show "A Pregnant Pause"

Entire Standalone Building to Operate as an Art Museum

Art Center Nabi, led by Director Sooyoung Noh, will relocate from the SK Group headquarters at the Seorin Building and reopen as an independent space in Sagan-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul. This move comes 26 years after the center first settled in the SK headquarters in Seorin-dong in December 2000. The new location will operate the entire standalone building as an art museum. With this, Korea's leading media art institution, which has been active within a corporate headquarters, is transitioning to an independent operating model.

Sooyoung Noh, Director of Art Center Nabi, is participating as a moderator and giving a lecture at the "Art Korea Lab Festival" held at Art Korea Lab in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 22nd. Photo by Kang Jinhyung

On June 2, Art Center Nabi announced that it will hold the solo exhibition "Tteum: A Pregnant Pause" by kinetic installation artist Han Jinsu as its reopening exhibition on June 11. The exhibition proposes the concepts of 'waiting' and 'pause' in an era that prioritizes speed and immediate results. The general public can visit the exhibition from June 12 through August 1.

Han Jinsu is an artist who has explored the passage of creation and growth through the slow changes created by mechanical devices and natural phenomena. The exhibition will feature works such as "Painting Generator," which delays completion through repeated brushstrokes; "White Pond," which captures the process of traces appearing and disappearing on a white surface; and "Flower of Uncertainty," which showcases the movement of bubbles floating without a center. The vibration of machines, traces on the water's surface, and repetitive motions collectively create an exhibition space that becomes a single 'landscape of waiting.'

Regarding the reopening, Director Noh stated, "Bringing 26 years to a close and opening a new chapter in Sagan-dong is a moment where the next chapter, whose shape has yet to fully emerge, begins to grow from within." She added, "The 'latent vitality' embedded in Han Jinsu’s works, which explore the slow fermentation of time between machines and nature, most deeply resonates with the meaning of our reopening."

Art Center Nabi traces its origins to the Walkerhill Museum, which was operated by the late Park Kyehee. In December 2000, it relocated to the SK Seorin Building and reopened under the name Art Center Nabi. Since then, it has functioned as a specialized media art institution experimenting at the intersection of art and technology. The center has highlighted the work of Korean media art pioneers such as Nam June Paik and Park Hyunki, and has continued to connect domestic and international media artists with experts in engineering, design, and architecture through exhibitions, research, and educational programs.

This relocation is also the result of a legal dispute. SK Innovation, which manages the SK Seorin Building, filed a real estate delivery lawsuit in 2023, claiming that Art Center Nabi continued to occupy the space after the lease expired in September 2019. Last year, the court ruled that Art Center Nabi must return the property to SK Innovation and pay damages. Art Center Nabi chose not to appeal, leading to its departure from the Seorin Building.

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