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Ugo Rondinone’s “yellow red monk” (2021) stands guard at the schist-encased Nam June Paik Hall in Museum SAN in Wonju, Gangwon Province, as part of the Swiss artist’s most comprehensive exhibiiton to date in Korea titled “BURN TO SHINE.” Courtesy of Museum SAN
Swiss artist’s largest solo show in Korea unfolds at Tadao Ando-designed Museum SAN 
By Park Han-sol
WONJU, Gangwon Province — Within the grayscale concrete-and-stone museum, which embodies the signature structural vocabulary of Japanese architect Tadao Ando, unfolds an eye-popping explosion of fluorescent colors and devouring flames.
The mastermind behind this striking juxtaposition is the versatile Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone, who, through neon boulder totems, a blazing film installation and a collaboration with 1,000 children, composes searing meditations on elemental nature and the circle of life.
All this may sound dauntingly abstract, but a trip down to Museum SAN atop a lush mountain in Wonju, Gangwon Province makes it an immediately tangible experience.
Ugo Rondinone’s “burn to shine” (2022) / Courtesy of studio rondinone and Kukje Gallery, Seoul; Esther Schipper, Berlin; Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich; Gladstone, New York; Mennour, Paris; Sadie Coles HQ, London
Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone / Newsis
“BURN TO SHINE,” the title of his largest solo exhibition to date in Korea, already hints at the artist’s poignant contemplation on the cycle of death and rebirth.
The phrase takes inspiration from a 1993 poem, “You Got to Burn to Shine,” by Rondinone’s late partner and American poet John Giorno — which itself originates from a Buddhist mantra acknowledging the inevitable coexistence of life and death.
It’s also the name given to the show’s centerpiece: a film playing in an infinite loop across six large screens, where a crowd of dancers and percussionists circle a fire in the desert as they move to the pulsating rhythm from sundown to sunup. The performance, blending ancient rituals of the Maghreb region in Africa with contemporary dance, beckons viewers into a mystical, trance-like state and allows them to experience the never-ending cycle through their whole bodies.
“It starts with the sunset and ends with the sunrise, and then it starts again. That cycle of life, you are going to see it throughout the whole exhibition,” the 59-year-old said at the museum in April.
Installation view of Ugo Rondinone’s solo exhibition, “BURN TO SHINE,” at Museum SAN / Courtesy of Museum SAN
The elemental thread echoes in another room populated by azure glass sculptures of horses.
Each animal, named after some of the world’s seas — “aegean sea,” “molucca sea” and “yellow sea,” among others — features a horizontal line that extends across its body and divides it in half.
When light shines through these sculptures, the line transforms into a mini-horizon, delineating the upper and lower parts of the horse’s body as sky (air) and water (sea), respectively. Furthermore, the form of the four-legged animal symbolizes the land, while its figure is cast glass and pulled from the fire.
“So you have all the elements — earth, water, air and fire — that [collectively] constitute life within the horse,” he said.
Ugo Rondinone’s “your age and my age and the age of the moon” (2020- ), born from his collaboration with 1,000 children from the city of Wonju / Yonhap
Elsewhere, the theme of nature, and its poetic relation to the wheel of life, takes on a more high-spirited tone through Rondidone’s collaboration with 1,000 children from the city of Wonju.
The “your age and my age and the age of the sun” and “your age and my age and the age of the moon” series encircle viewers with over 2,000 drawings of the radiant sun and the moon, all born by the hands of kids aged three to 12 in the neighborhood.
“The children are our future and I’m very happy that I could integrate them and make them a serious part of the art,” the creative noted. “I think it’s very important that museums open their doors for children, not only in their children’s programs, but in general, make them feel more comfortable.”
Ugo Rondinone’s three-meter-tall totems, “nuns + monks,” grace the museum’s outdoor stone garden. Newsis
Stepping outside, visitors will come face to face with six three-meter-tall totems standing guard across the museum’s stone garden.
The commanding “nuns + monks” sculptures, with their piled forms recalling both the totemic stone towers and pensive postures of clergy figures, exude an awe-inspiring religious presence.
Though they appear to be crafted from natural stone, these towers are, in fact, cast in bronze and coated in bright, fluorescent paints. The pieces, recognized as a creative trademark of Rondinone, transform the subtle, sublime balances of nature into striking man-made monuments.
“The monks [and nuns] are not dedicated to a specific religion. They are just the symbol of a meditative person, someone who looks inward, a symbol of containment,” he said. “At the same time, it’s also a meditation on nature, seeing how we are embedded in it. The stone has a different lifespan than humans. So it puts human life in relation to nature.”
“BURN TO SHINE” runs through Sept. 18 at Museum SAN.
Installation view of Ugo Rondinone’s solo exhibition, “BURN TO SHINE,” at Museum SAN / Courtesy of Museum SAN
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