A.A. Murakami's "Beyond the Horizon." [Paradise City]
A.A. Murakami's "Beyond the Horizon." [Paradise City]

Artist duo A.A. Murakami, based in Japan and the United Kingdom, will hold their first solo exhibition in Korea.

Paradise City announced Monday that its Art Space will host A.A. Murakami's solo exhibition "New Nature" from Sept. 1 through Feb. 10 next year. The duo — comprising Japan's Azusa Murakami and Britain's Alexander Groves — will explore the theme "Nature after Nature," examining natural phenomena created through the fusion of technology and art. Their installations give form to the continuous cycle of soap bubbles, mist, light and airflow as they form, transform and dissolve.

Greeting visitors at the entrance, "New Spring" is a towering tree-shaped structure standing 6.4 meters tall. Thousands of soap bubbles bloom like flower buds from the tips of its branches, drift downward, bounce off the floor and vanish — capturing fleeting moments of nature.

"Beyond the Horizon" conjures a surreal landscape as layers of mist and soap bubbles billow upward like clouds. Even as the mechanical apparatus repeats the same motions, the interplay of bubbles, mist and air currents produces a different scene each time, revealing the randomness of nature and the aesthetics of the fleeting moment.

A.A. Murakami's "A Thousand Layers of Camouflage." [Paradise City]
A.A. Murakami's "A Thousand Layers of Camouflage." [Paradise City]

Making its Korean debut is "Mud Paintings From 'A Thousand Layers of Stomach' Series," which uses a painting machine to replicate the growth patterns of seashells. An autonomous painting machine evoking the texture of tidal mudflats moves slowly across the canvas, building up patterns layer by layer to render the order found in nature.

Located in Yeongjong-gu, Incheon, the Art Space is Paradise City's dedicated exhibition venue, presenting contemporary art across fine art, architecture, design and media. It has previously hosted exhibitions by internationally recognized artists including Banksy, Keith Haring, Josh Sperling and Joel Mesler.

"This is an exhibition where anyone can intuitively experience familiar materials — soap bubbles and seashells — being reborn as a new kind of nature through technology," a Paradise City official said. "We hope the works, including the Korean premiere of the Mud Paintings series, offer visitors a fresh perspective on the relationship between nature and technology."


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