Artist Kang Ik-joong is explaining his work in front of 'Samramansang,' which is composed of 10,000 3-inch canvas paintings and various objects. The work features toys that his son used to play with and items filled with memories, along with 300 speakers that emit sounds of nature and everyday life./Newsis

A monumental ‘Hangeul Temple’ will be installed in front of the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt this October.

Installation artist Kang Ik-joong (64) will unveil new work at the international art exhibition ‘Forever Is Now (FIN: Forever Is Now)’ in front of the UNESCO World Heritage Pyramids, marking the first time a Korean artist has been invited to participate. Sponsored by the Egyptian government and UNESCO, this exhibition has been held every fall since 2021. It has attracted over 1.5 million visitors annually and garnered more than a billion views on social media.

This year’s exhibition will feature ten artists. In an interview with The ChosunIlbo, Kang Ik-joong, who will be showcasing his latest work, ‘Four Temples,’ stated, “I will construct four rectangular prisms, each up to five meters high. The outer walls of these prisms will be inscribed with the lyrics of the Korean folk song ‘Arirang’ in Hangeul, English, Arabic, and hieroglyphics. The interior will be adorned with over 5,000 mural drawings of dreams created by children from around the world.” He elaborated, “The pyramids symbolize the past, ‘Arirang’ the present, and the children the future. This work embodies the belief that the world can coexist peacefully through exchange despite the divisions and conflicts on Earth. It creates a connection between the past, present, and future.”

An image of 'Four Temples,' which will be installed in front of the Egyptian pyramids in October. The structure reaches a maximum height of 5 meters./Kang Ik-joong Studio

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of his creative career, a retrospective exhibition also opened on July. 4., in his hometown of Cheongju, Chungbuk. The exhibition, ‘Journey Home: Ik-Joong Kang,’ held at the Cheongju Museum of Art, showcases the artist’s major projects from his global career that began in 1984 when he moved to New York. It features new works reinterpreting his hometown landscape, including ‘Samramansang.’ the ‘Moon Jar’ series, and ‘Hangeul Public projects.’ The artist said, “Cheongju is a place I always miss, feel excited about, and am curious about, even from afar. I installed Musimcheon, which runs through the city from north to south, so it appears to flow down the open hall steps, and I displayed Mt. Uamsan, where I played as a child, at the entrance to the second floor.”

He reinterpreted Musimcheon, which flows north to south through the city of Cheongju, and installed it to appear as if it is cascading down the steps of the open hall at the Cheongju Museum of Art./Cheongju Museum of Art
'Uamsan,' installed at the entrance of the second-floor exhibition hall, is a reinterpreted work of the mountain where artist Kang Ik-joong used to play as a child. /Cheongju Museum of Art

During his years of study abroad, when he needed to earn money, he had little time to paint. He started making 3-inch (7.6 cm) pieces, painting images that came to mind while on buses or subways. This was the beginning of Kang’s signature ‘3-inch canvases.’ Thousands, even tens of thousands, of these palm-sized canvases come together to create diverse sculptural images. The 10-meter-high first-floor exhibition hall is filled with ‘Things I Know,’ consisting of 3,000 Hangeul characters and 200 sentences.

The 10-meter-high wall of the first-floor exhibition hall is completely covered with the Hangeul Project 'Things I Know,’ which harmonizes Hangeul consonants and vowels. It is composed of 3,000 Hangeul characters and 200 sentences./Newsis
'Longing for Hometown,' which gathers the dreams of displaced people, is hanging in the second-floor corridor. Elderly people who left their hometowns in the North vividly drew the scenery of their hometown houses and maps of their homes./Heo Yun-hee
‘Journey Home: Ik-Joong Kang'/Cheongju Museum of Art

Furthermore, he noted the increasing popularity of Hangeul. Last year’s Hangeul workshop at Ain Shams University in Cairo was so successful that the corridors were overflowing. He said, “I was inspired to create my latest work after visiting the Egyptian temple at that time. I am dedicating my energy to it, considering it a lifelong project.” The Cheongju exhibition is open until September 29, with an admission fee of 1,000 won for adults. The Egyptian Pyramid exhibition is scheduled to take place from Oct. 24, to Nov. 16.