Contemporary art project Aqua Paradiso is touring Korean Cultural Centres in India and Australia in 2026, featuring works by artists Hyewon Kwon, Boo Jihyun, and Eunhae Jung (eco orot) that examine the ecological and sensory dynamics of water during the Anthropocene era.
From Gwangju to International Cultural Centres
Originally curated in 2022 by the National Asian Culture Center in Gwangju, the exhibition brought together 11 artists from Asia and around the world to explore water from aesthetic, philosophical, and ecological perspectives over a three-month period. The 2026 touring edition focuses specifically on three Korean artists who participated in the original showcase. The project is supported by the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE) as part of the “Touring K-Arts” project, with hosting and organization managed by the Korean Cultural Centre Australia, the National Asian Culture Center, and the National Asian Culture Center Foundation.
Reinterpreting Industrial Waste and Ecological Realities
The featured installations use distinct visual languages to address human relationships with water and the environment. BOO Jihyun’s installation, Where is it going, repurposes industrial waste into meditative mechanical movements to highlight the endless living entanglement between humans and nature. Hyewon Kwon’s video installation, Liquid Vision, employs a speculative documentary format from the perspective of an extraterrestrial exploration robot probing Earth’s aquatic ecosystems to examine new meanings associated with water, light, and touch.
AQUA PARADISO is now on at the Korean Cultural Centre Australia.Featuring Korean artists Jihyun Boo, Hyewon Kwon and eco orot, the exhibition explores water through aesthetic, philosophical and ecological perspectives. pic.twitter.com/SdW5TnjLIO
Meanwhile, the eco-artist collective eco orot uses marine plastic debris collected from Jeju’s shores for their works. Plastic Mandala applies the symbolic cycle of the mandala where extinction coexists with return, accompanied by Ocean Tears, an installation comprising hundreds of glass bottles filled with microplastics.
