Gyeonggi Ceramics Biennale 2026

For Seungmo Park, soil was his first drawing material, one that carries memories of his childhood. As a child, he drew on the ground with twigs in front of his home in Saengcho-myeon, Sancheong, paying attention to easily overlooked traces such as cracks and scratches in the earth. Even today, he continues to observe and record the scars and traces left on the ground, buildings, and objects, carrying this interest into his work.

Inscribed into Emptiness is a large-scale installation made by stacking hundreds of box-like forms into a structure resembling a temple. Like a traditional brick pagoda turned upside down, it is narrow at the bottom and gradually widens as it rises. The exterior reveals the rough textures of earth and terracotta, while the interior is composed of smooth ceramic surfaces, creating a striking contrast.

The clay that forms this structure is naturally fragile and easily crumbles, but becomes hard when fired. Park sees this not simply as a change in the material, but as a process in which wounds and instability are transformed into a different kind of strength. Although many individual elements come together to form a single structure, he sees it not as a finished piece of architecture, but as something that continues to be built up and broken down. Creation and dissolution, wounds and recovery, coexist within the work.

Take your time moving around both the inside and outside of the work. Notice the contrast between rough and smooth surfaces, the solid structure and the empty space within it. Consider the cracks and traces not simply as signs of destruction, but as places where time has passed and traces have accumulated.