Curator Jiyoon Lee, Blows the Breath of Korean Art into the World.

Jiyoon Lee is a curator who served as a coordinator for the establishment of the Korean Pavilion at the British Museum in London (2000), and is now, the CEO of the contemporary art agency, ‘Sum Project’. Her representative works are the ‘Seoul Until Now’ exhibition, Royal Danish Museum Charlottenburg (2005), the Saatchi Gallery ‘Fantastic Ordinary’ exhibition (2010), the London Olympic Media Collection ‘Blue Crystal Ball’ Exhibition (2012), and the DDP opening ‘Zha Hadid_360 degrees’ exhibition (2014). She recently opened a new position at ‘Culture Station Seoul 284’, the ‘Hedwig Studio: Creating Emotions’ exhibition.

The beginning of the contemporary art agency ‘Sum Project’ was quite special. When she was 19, she went to Paris as an exchange student to study French literature. The Louvre was next to her college, and even at a young age, she was fascinated by the rare works on display there. At the time, she didn't even know the term curator, but she decided to work at the art museum there and showcase Korean art.

What she had wanted since she was at the Louvre was to serve as a bridge between Korea and Europe. She has a big goal: to introduce Korean and Asian culture to Europe and European culture to Asia. She still hasn't forgotten her dream of taking the lead in becoming a bridge in the global era.

That’s also why she is now focusing on media arts. She believes media art is a representative field in which Koreans can stand out. Unlike other fields, including oil painting, which started early overseas, the starting point of Korean and other countries is almost the same. Moreover, there is also Nam June Paik, a pioneer. 

Her philosophy is reflected in her planning office, ‘Sum Project’. She said, “I think the power of art felt like a breath of air for me. Just as my role as a bridge is ultimately to allow Europe and Asia to breathe together, I want to allow more people to breathe through art as naturally as they breathe.”

<Sum Project official website>