KOREA FOUNDATION

ACH NEWS

Tea Time and Coffee Break

From March 11 to June 19, the ASEAN Culture House presents a special exhibition with messages of relaxation and healing in this relentless, pandemic-ridden era. For as long as we remember, people around the world have been enjoying tea and coffee as they took a rest. Tea time, which originated in Britain during the Industrial Revolution, was established to guarantee breaks for workers. It became a custom that continued to be practiced on the battlefield. In Korea, as is in many ASEAN countries, there is a tradition of serving tea to guests.

The ASEAN Culture House’s special exhibition “Tea Time and Coffee Break” sheds light on the cultural aspects of tea and coffee as a gesture of relaxation and hospitality amid hectic workdays. Focusing on the keywords coffee, tea, and pause, works by contemporary artists BaekJeong-ki, Lee Chang-won, and Park Hwa-young, along with designs of graphic design team GoWaSeo and spatial design team Mujindongsa, will be exhibited in five sections.

The exhibition begins with BaekJeong-ki’s Is-of series, which consists of photos of natural landscapes printed with plant-based dyes, and Lee Chang-won’s paintings, drawings, and sculptures made of coffee powder and tea leaves. Park Hwa-Young’s 4-channel video work, which interprets the coffee break as a time of “breaking out” or “awakening,”is the climax of the exhibition. The presentation concludes with a graphic design work by GoWaSeo(Kim Seo-gyeong, Park Go-eun), which features the history and cultural characteristics of coffee production in the ASEAN region, and a lounge area created by Mujindongsa(Kim Tae-hyeong, Son Jeong-min) and inspired by Peranakan tearooms in Singapore.

Along with contemporary artworks that highlight the material characteristics of coffee and tea, the exhibition presents various ways to learn more about coffee and tea from the ASEAN region. Experience your own moment of pause at the ASEAN Culture House’s Special Exhibition Hall, filled with the aroma of ASEAN tea and coffee.