–Press Release Text—

Will You Be My Penpal?

Exhibition Dates: September 5–27, 2026

Opening: Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays

Closed: September 25–26

Venue: 2nd Floor, Ilsan Suji, 58 Gamjeoncheon-ro, Sasang-gu, Busan (Korea)

Artists: Joachim Blank, Sonya Egorova, Marie Charlotte Elsner, Naomi Frank, Li Huhn, Laila Kamil, Niklas Kleemann, Samuel Kok, Clemens Körner, Franziska Kühn, Snow Paik, Sophie Charlotte von Rintelen, Pascal Schiffers, Marie Seelen, Einav Zeichner, Siyan Zhang, Yana Zschiedrich and Kwon Woo-jae, Kim Seo-yeon, Kim Yoon-young, Ermolaeva Viktoriia, Lee Seo-hyeon

Curated by Snow Paik and Son Chang-an

In September 2026, Will You Be My Penpal? will take place on the second floor of Ilsan Suji. The exhibition marks the beginning of an exchange project between the Joachim Blank Class at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig (HGB) and the Department of Contemporary Art at Dong-A University. The participating artists will meet in person in July 2027 – next year ! Before that encounter, however, their works will travel first—not as physical objects, but as data. The exhibition is a preview in which works arrive across time and space through digital transmission.

The title Will You Be My Penpal? refers, quite literally, to the idea of having a pen pal. What travels between Leipzig and Busan, two cities separated by thousands of kilometers, is not a handwritten letter but visual language transmitted through digital signals—a reflection of different approaches to media and artistic practice.

The HGB artists work with code, 3D scanning, AI-generated video, bodily data, and digital reconstruction. Arriving in the form of files, commands, and renderings, this data is transformed into physical installations within the exhibition space in Busan, acquiring a material presence through the process of transmission.

In response, five artists from the host institution, the Department of Contemporary Art at Dong-A University present paintings. The brushstrokes, textures of paint, and physical weight of the canvases offer a distinct contrast to the immateriality of transmitted data.

On the second floor of Ilsan Suji, data arriving from beyond the screen encounters canvases placed directly before the viewer. Will You Be My Penpal? becomes a meeting point between data and materiality, between distant places and the here and now. It is also a letter that arrives in advance—sent ahead of the artists’ physical encounter next summer 2027.

Organized by: Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig (HGB), Dong-A University and Ilsan Suji Supported by: Busan Museum of Art, Modonji Print Lab