Among the many programs presented at Kiaf SEOUL 2025 at COEX in Seoul, the most striking is undoubtedly the special exhibition 《Reverse Cabinet》. Organized to commemorate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan, this exhibition is not merely a celebratory event but an experimental device that radically reinterprets the fundamental languages of art: ‘collection’ and ‘display’.

Turning the Cabinet Upside Down

The “cabinet” has long been the root of the modern museum system—embodying orderly arrangement, systematic classification, and the accumulation of state and personal power. 《Reverse Cabinet》 deliberately unsettles this tradition. Curators Yulli Yoon (Chief Curator, Ilmin Museum of Art) and Tomoya Iwata (Director, The 5th Floor) reveal through this exhibition that “collection and display are not merely acts of preservation, but creative acts that construct power and narrative.”


 
Participating Artists and Their Works

The exhibition brings together six artists from Korea and Japan, staging a multilayered dialogue.
 
From Korea, Don Sun-pil presents sharp drawings and performative gestures of the body, paradoxically highlighting “what cannot be possessed.”

Jeong Geum-hyung explores the intersections of machines, humans, desire, and manipulation through installations and performances, exposing the hidden strata of acquisitive impulses.

Yeom Ji-hye links femininity, memory, and everyday objects, excavating unrecorded narratives, while Kai Oh experiments with combining archival materials and installations to test how displayed objects can generate new contexts.

From Japan, Kei Takemura delicately stitches fragmented memories with embroidery and textiles, transforming collected traces into sensorial narratives. Sen Takahashi merges traditional objects with experimental media, disturbing the meaning of display at the threshold between preservation and destruction.

Each artist interprets the question “What is collected, and what is excluded?” in their own language. The result is not simply the presentation of works within an exhibition but rather the re-exhibition of the exhibition system itself.


 
Beyond Korea–Japan Exchange: Toward East Asian Discourse

《Reverse Cabinet》 is not a mere commemorative gesture of bilateral relations. Instead, it raises broader questions that must be shared across the East Asian art world. Collection is power, and display is politics. The inquiry into what images remain and what records vanish under the gaze of states, institutions, and collectors resonates beyond the specific histories of Korea and Japan, remaining acutely relevant in today’s global art market.
 
This exhibition is particularly attuned to Kiaf’s 2025 theme of “Resonance.” Artists, curators, histories, and audiences from both countries reverberate with one another, transforming the exhibition into not just a showcase but a space of critical resonance.
 


A Fair Within the Fair

Amid 176 participating galleries, 《Reverse Cabinet》 assumes an almost independent stature—a “fair within the fair.” By proposing discourse beyond sales and questioning the very form of exhibition, it stands as Kiaf’s most critical and experimental program this year.
 
Ultimately, 《Reverse Cabinet》 poses a fundamental question: What do we collect, how do we display, and whose memories will we preserve for the future? This question transcends six decades of diplomacy, leaving an echo that compels us to reconsider the very languages of art itself.

References

• Kiaf SEOUL 2025