- Exhibition Title: 《Where Gleams Overlap》
- Location: Open Storage 16 National Folk Museum of Korea, Paju
- Duration of Exhibition: July 23 (Wed.) – October 26 (Sun), 2025
- Theme and Exhibited Contents: Focusing on the theme of "Light" and features over 240 works, including contemporary crafts and installations such as lanterns, oil lamps, carbide lamps, Luminous, Scrolled Book 3, Scrolled Book 4, and Human + Nature + Love + Light.
- Admission: Free
- Exhibition Tours Schedule (Starting July 30, Wednesday)
Tuesdays: 10:30 AM, 1:30 PM (2 sessions per day)
Wednesday to Sunday: 10:30 AM, 1:30 PM, 3:30 PM (3 sessions per day)
Please note: Tour times may change. Any updates will be announced on the museum's website.
Opening Remarks
National Folk Museum of Korea, Paju presents Where Gleams Overlap, its seventh exhibition, continuing its exploration of how open storage can be made more accessible, shared, and creatively utilized.
Light, ever-present in our daily lives, is essential for perceiving and navigating the spaces we inhabit. Since ancient times, people have found ingenious ways to extend light into the darkness. These creative endeavors are richly expressed in folk objects. The exhibition unfolds in four parts: Ignition, Diffusion, Utilization, and Expansion.
Ignition explores the reddish glow born of burning fuel. Diffusion highlights warm yellow light that brightens everyday life. Utilization looks into the bright blue radiance that transformed both livelihoods and artistic expression. Finally, Expansion reflects on the symbolic significance of white light, revealing the rich cultural dimensions of illumination.
We invite you to experience these overlapping narratives of light—beginning with the faint flickers that once lit the dark night for the sake of survival and continuing on to the light that today illuminates our routines even during the daylight hours.
Exhibition Highlights
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Deungjan, Lamp
Late Joseon dynasty – late 20th century
The shape of oil lamps varies, with types such as the jongji-type, ho-type, and tanggi-type. The jongji-type lamp has a simple structure, consisting of an oil reservoir and a wick made by twisting cotton or paper. As petroleum, a highly flammable fuel, began to be used, the ho-type lamp was introduced, featuring a lid and a wick inserted through it. The wick could be pulled out through the lid, allowing users to adjust the flame size by controlling the wick length. To produce brighter light, some lamps were designed with two wicks, known as the ssang-simji (double-wick) lamp. |
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Deungga and Deunggyeong, Lampstand
Late Joseon dynasty
Oil lamps were placed on the floor indoors for activities such as reading and sewing. Lamp stands are divided into deungga and deunggyeong. The deungga is a type of stand where the lamp is placed on a raised base of a certain height. The deunggyeong consists of a pillar with tiers, allowing for adjustable lamp height, and it includes a holder for the oil container. |
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Chotdae, Candlestick
Late Joseon dynasty
Candlesticks were mainly made of wood and used for holding candles. The bulhuri, a wind guard that blocks the breeze from behind the candle and allows for adjusting the direction of the light, comes in various shapes, including butterfly-shaped and hexagonal. The warm light from the candle and the shadow cast by the wind guard created a unique atmosphere in the room. |
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Jedeung and Hyeondeung, Hand Lantern and Hanging Lamp
Late Joseon dynasty
The jedeung, a lantern with a handle, was used to illuminate dark paths. When an oil lamp was placed inside, it was called a deunglong, and when a candle was used, it was called a chorong. The frame, usually square, was covered with paper or fabric, and often decorated with paintings of landscapes or flowers, or carved wood patterns resembling the window grilles of traditional Korean houses.
The hyeondeung has a similar structure to the jedeung but is designed to be hung from a beam or ceiling. These lanterns were made in square or hexagonal shapes, with intricate wooden carvings or painted floral designs like peonies and chrysanthemums on the glass surfaces. |
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Nampodeung, Oil Lamp
1960s
The nampodeung is a kerosene lamp covered with a glass chimney. It is a Western-style light source, and when it was first introduced, the word "lamp" was phonetically transcribed as nampo in Korean. People sometimes repurposed bottles or Coca-Cola cans to create homemade nampodeung or horong (traditional oil lamps). |
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Horong
Park Sohee
White Porcelain / 2025
This horong (traditional Korean oil lamp) series draws inspiration from the form of old oil lamps. The artist was moved by the afterimage that lingers in one’s vision after staring into a flickering flame in the darkness. It captures the fleeting nature of moments, emotions, and memories—those that, even as they fade over time, leave behind an indelible trace. Through this work, the artist hopes to convey a sense of calm and comfort. Park’s practice centers on traditional Korean aesthetics, expressed through form and color rooted in heritage. |
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Horongbul
Kim Dongkyu
Red Pine, Walnut etc. / 2025
This work is a contemporary reinterpretation of the traditional deunggyeong (lamp stand). It harmoniously combines geometric shapes, including cylinders and hexahedrons, while highlighting the natural colors of various woods such as walnut and red pine. Constructed from multiple assembled pieces, the piece features a glass cylinder at the top, allowing it to serve multifunctionally as a diffuser or vase. |
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Light Series (Light)
Jin Hyerin
White Porcelain, Metal, etc. / 2024
This lighting piece envelops light with two or four porcelain panels. Using the nijang-apin (泥裝壓印) technique—where clay slip is applied and stamps are pressed into the surface to create shaded relief—the raised lines reveal different appearances depending on how the light falls on them. The tips of the lines shimmer, while shadows gather beneath, evoking the sense of time gradually layering over a fixed artwork. |
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Candlestick
Choi Seung-chun
Wood, Tin / 2021
This candlestick is a modern reinterpretation of traditional Korean patterns. While following the form of classic wall-mounted oil lamps, it combines a wooden candle holder with metal elements, achieving both aesthetic appeal and practical functionality. |
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Sondengdae-1, Sondengdae-5, Frog Lighthouse
Lee Hyesun
Brass, Nickel Silver, Marine Debris (buoys, discarded plastic, etc.) / From left: 2016, 2021, 2023
These works are made from plastic waste collected on the beaches of Jeju Island, reflecting the artist’s approach of transforming discarded objects into a new sculptural language. Beyond being simple light sources, Lee reimagines these pieces as “companion lights” that protect and accompany everyday life. |
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Mushroom Series1_Chungja, Mushroom Series1_Buncheong, Mini Lamp Series
Yun Jihun
Ceramic / 2025
These ceramic lighting pieces reinterpret functionalist lighting forms using clay. Primarily created through the pinching technique—shaping the clay by hand— they reveal the material’s natural flexibility and spontaneous beauty. |
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Luminous
Boo Jihyun
Discarded Fishing Light, LED, Structural Steel, etc. / 2022
This work revives discarded fishing lights by inserting LEDs to illuminate them once again. Fishing lights are devices used to attract fish, and through these reclaimed objects, the artist reflects on the relationship between nature and humans, the cycle of consumption and reuse, and the boundary between function and emotion. |
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B-01 Light Scape Series
LAB.CRETE
Concrete, Plywood / 2016
This lighting piece is inspired by city buildings. Like a single beam of light filtering through a window on a dark night, it softly illuminates the space, conveying warmth and comfort in everyday life. Using concrete as the main material, the work expresses an experimental and original approach. |
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Horong and Chorong
Dajuro
Wood, Stainless Steel / 2021
This lighting piece is part of the Stupa furniture series, inspired by the vitality of East Asian architecture. Grounded in an architectural perspective, the Stupa series incorporates Eastern motifs and materials like wood and metal, characterized by their adaptable and variable nature. |
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O-Light Series(Mint), X-Light Series(Red), O-Light Series(Ivory)
Bang Hyo-been
Powder-coated Steel, LED / 2025
This lighting piece is created by weaving enlarged circular structures inspired by O-rings—metal rings commonly used to connect jewelry components. The intersecting rings form a balanced composition that harmonizes sculptural aesthetics with functionality. Through the way the rings support one another, the artist reflects on relationships, while the interplay of light and shadow produces a rhythmic visual effect. |
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Scrolled Book 3, Scrolled Book 4
Kang Airan
LED, Plastic Cylinder, Wood / 2014
This work invites viewers to rethink and sense traditional order and concepts through a scroll that embraces light. The artist creates an artistic space where music, video, text, and materiality converge across time and space, allowing past and present, memory and imagination to coexist. |
*Photo courtesy of the artist |
Actually, Actualness of Actuality │ Flow
Seon Sunny Kim
Prism, LED, etc. / 2024
This work translates refracted light through a prism into color. The artist explores the meaning of light in various ways, questioning both the sensory moment of perceiving an object and the process by which that perception remains as a lasting memory. |
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Human + Nature + Love + Light
Lee Sungkuen
Special Steel Wire, Communication Cables, etc. / 2006
Collection of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea
This installation is made by weaving discarded communication cables with natural materials. Through the passage of time and variations of light, it expresses the continuity of life, vitality, and the possibility of healing. |
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