galerie son has been active in Berlin since 2005 and exhibits contemporary art at an international level. Founder Mihyun Son and director Max Koffler have been working together for almost two decades and form the gallery's core team. While the focus at the beginning was on the representation of Korean and German positions — Ms. Son came to Germany from South Korea in 1996 — the history of the gallery is difficult to capture in a narrative today: The operation of exhibitions and art trade only superficially captures the achievements of the last 18 years. Above all, intercultural art projects and acting across national borders characterize the special nature of Ms. Son's company.
Germany and Korea: A Dialogue
The cultural dialog between Germany and Korea came about naturally and is reflected in the gallery's surroundings. The exhibition spaces of the past were located exclusively in Mitte, often near historical monuments such as Checkpoint Charlie and the Berlin Wall. This automatically created the historical setting for many exhibitions, as it is difficult in Berlin to ignore the history of a place in the context of cultural work. The collaboration with Johannes Heisig and Stephan Elsner in particular made visitors aware of different types of political decision-making and processing.
In 2012, the gallery was the only private gallery to participate in the Long Night of Museums, surrounded by cultural institutions at eye level. On display were paintings from the Mansudae studio in Pyongyang, North Korea, a well-known production site that is usually hastily reduced to propagandistic art. With Mansudae. Landscapes from Pyongyang, the gallery showed that this is not the case. Forests, waterfalls, mountain landscapes and majestic predators invite the viewer to take a look at the otherwise closed nature of the country. Utopian and realistic at the same time, the canvases resemble dream landscapes that clearly emerge in the inner eye and yet remain inaccessible.
The exhibition was the first stage of a longer-term project, as part of which North Korean artists will be invited to Berlin for a longer working stay in the fall. Later, an exchange with South Korean artists is also to take place, a rapprochement similar to that which took place between artists from East and West Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall: a coming together in the field of art as an unlikely and first step.
— from a press report
Son and Koffler visited North Korea and, after exploring and assessing the cultural scene, returned to Berlin with two North Korean artists, providing a studio for them to create works for the corresponding exhibition KoreaKorea. KoreaKorea, much more of a cultural statement than ordinary exhibition, brought together arts from South and North, representing Mrs Son's wish for an approximation among sides.
Nowadays, the goal of representing Korean art in Germany or anywhere might seem redundant, as the number of practicing Korean artists outside Korea is growing visibly and rapidly. Korea itself has become a popular stage for international art fairs and culture. Twenty years ago, however, it was a goal worthwhile, and is synonymous with the enduring efforts of Mrs Son and Mr Koffler to attain cultural visibility for artists that were not able to place themselves in the art world's landscape.
Today
If you visit the gallery at Schinkelplatz 4 today, you will often encounter art outside of a fixed exhibition framework. Installations are often colorful and mixed, like group exhibitions, but without the thematic uniformity. Here you will find Richter paintings next to Fischer sculptures and KAWS figures, Korean sculptures next to monuments to German history. The effect of the art is often strongest when works that categorically do not belong together come together.