한국국제교류재단

ACH REVIEW

Tea Time & Coffee Break

The ASEAN Culture House's special exhibition “Tea Time & Coffee Break” introduces ASEAN tea and coffee culture and refreshes our emotions as we pass through the protracted COVID-19 pandemic. So much has been halted in recent years, including overseas trips and face-to-face meetings with acquaintances. This pause has also become a time of reason, introspection, awakening, and rebound.

Part 1, the “Is-of” series by artist Baek Jungki, showcases photos of tea fields and autumn foliage made using plant pigments. Baek used pigments derived from natural materials such as tea leaves and maple leaves. Part 2 features Lee Chang-won’s “Ganghwado Island: Shadows from the Past,” a large installation piece made of tea leaves, drawings, sculptures, and coffee powder. By using light and shadow to portray a Western ship anchored at a port, the piece is a metaphor for the colonial experience that both Korean and ASEAN history share in common. In Part 3, Park Hwa-yeong’s video installation “Liquid Circular Cup-Break Booth” draws attention to the meaning of “break” in “coffee break.” The artist collected coffee stains left on the cup she drinks every day and created huge video images out of them. By adding the clang of breaking glass, she interprets a coffee break as a time to “break” and “awaken” dynamically, rather than a static rest.