Portrait of a Collection

SONGEUN was honored to present works from both established and emerging artists, exemplifying Pinault Collection’s unwavering commitment to artistic innovation and collaboration. Visitors encountered, through vivid dialogues, masterpieces from artists such as Marlene Dumas, Luc Tuymans, Peter Doig, Florian Krewer, Ser Serpas, Rudolf Stingel, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. These artists, also featured in the original Ouverture exhibition, highlighted the enduring relationships cultivated by the Pinault Collection over time.

A distinctive feature of the exhibition was the "companionship" approach that characterizes Pinault Collection. This long-term collaboration with artists facilitated the presentation of extensive bodies of works and detailed monographs, allowing visitors to explore the full spectrum of an artist’s oeuvre. This was notably exemplified in the Ouverture exhibition with David Hammons, where nearly thirty pieces were showcased, more than half of which had never been publicly displayed before.

Another aspect of the Pinault Collection's presentation was its long-standing interest in what might be called singular artist positions. The exhibition at SONGEUN began with artworks by Danh Vo, a Danish artist of Vietnamese origin whom Pinault Collection had presented several times in its museums in Venice and Paris. Located on the first floor of the exhibition space, the selection presented allowed the audience to grasp Danh Vo’s work, strongly marked by a fundamental and original form of displacement linked to his origins.

The journey then continued with the “Welcome Room” dedicated to African-American artist David Hammons, featuring five emblematic works that spanned his career from the late 1960s to the present. This allowed visitors to embrace all the questions that defined his work, from early pieces on paper from the late 1960s to his very recent creations.

Facing Hammons’ works, Anri Sala—an artist of Albanian origin who mainly uses moving images and to whom Pinault Collection dedicated an exhibition at the Bourse de Commerce in 2022—specifically recomposed for the Auditorium of SONGEUN the video 1395 Days Without Red, 2011, a poignant work set in besieged Sarajevo. This work took individuals into other realities and made the audience feel both the madness of humanity and the beauty of hope through music that transcends time and space.

From the 2nd to the 3rd floor of the exhibition space, the exhibition featured vibrating dialogues between Miriam Cahn and Peter Doig; Marlene Dumas and Luc Tuymans; Lucas Arruda and Anicka Yi; Julie Mehretu and Rudolf Stingel.

The ultimate experience in the underground spaces of SONGEUN was the magical and unsettling installation Opera (QM. 15) by Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, in which she embodied the mythical Maria Callas and plunged visitors into a moment of intense temporal disturbance.

Portrait of a Collection was a landmark event in Seoul’s cultural calendar, offering an immersive experience that reflected the depth and breadth of the Pinault Collection. SONGEUN invited art enthusiasts, collectors, and the general public to engage with this extraordinary exhibition and explore the rich vitality of contemporary art.