Beyond typography – the prospects of Korean script

Date: 2022.11.30
An exhibition with the above title was available for viewing until late January at MOME and the Korean Cultural Centre in Budapest. The aim of the exhibition, co-organised with the National Hangul Museum in Seoul to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the foundation of the cultural institution, is to convey the beauty of hangul – the Korean script – simply and intuitively.

Drawing on the materials of the National Hangul Museum in Seoul, the exhibition puts hangul in a new perspective, and reinterprets it through the lens of design with the contribution of 23 South Korean artists. The artworks explore the aesthetic significance of hangul in applied art. The Korean alphabet and its philosophy are featured on furniture, posters and clothing.  

MOME Campus houses several of these unique location-specific installations.  The furniture set The living room of vowels and consonants was inspired by 28 characters of the Hunminjeong’eum, and the 3D print sculptures by the vocal organs required to pronounce Korean consonants.  

In addition to the exhibition, the long-term collaboration also resulted in a Course Week workshop that seeks to explore what symbols and aesthetics could be used to reinterpret the Korean script.

There was also a professional event related to the exhibition that included seminars by Korean artists at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design linked to Graphifest, the most prestigious event of the graphic design industry. Internationally acclaimed professor in Visual Information Design at Namseoul University in South Korea Sun Byoung-il was working with graphic design students, while founders of the LIFT-OFF graphic design studio in Seoul Lee Jinwoo and Choi Sejin led a specifically Korean typography workshop for Graphic Design, Animation and Product Design MA students.

Our university discussed the possibility of continuing the successfully co-launched projects with director of the Hangul Museum Kim Youngsu visiting our campus, project manager of the Budapest Korean Institute Kim Jiyeong and two of its curators Kang Yeonmin and Lee HyunJin. 

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