Practicing Change

The first talk in The Ambivalence of Design AA-Yonsei Lecture Series.

Things change. They really do. Practicing Change is an auto-theoretical account of a transformational trajectory - from a historian, through a critic, to a curator – within a particular global-Korean setting. It describes an individual (my) experience of larger historical conditions and the (my) search through different practices as a way of responding to their change. This trajectory sheds light on the different ways history, theory, and practice can and has been approached. The radically condensed transformations of Korean society during the past century provides a unique perspective on how one may move through and within medieval, modern, and contemporary conditions.

Hyungmin Pai is an architectural historian, critic, curator, and professor at the University of Seoul. Hyungmin has a Ph.D from MIT and he is the author of numerous books including The Portfolio and the Diagram. His curatorial work was recognized by the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale and the Red Dot Design Award. He was the director of the 2017 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism and is presently the Artistic Director of the Gwangju Folly.

The AA-Yonsei Lecture Series The Ambivalence of Design is organised by James Kwang-Ho Chung & Brendon Carlin (Unit Masters, AA Diploma 19), Jooeun Sung (Professor, Yonsei University) and Jae-Won Yi (Adjunct Professor, Yonsei University).

This event is funded by the British Council grant (British Council UK-Korea Virtual Academic Collaboration grant).

Image: Dismantled fragment of wall graphic, Climate Museum exhibition, 2021_Photo by Hyungmin Pai