Why South Korea’s Venice Biennale 2024 pavilion smells like its cities: meet artist and Loewe model Koo Jeong-a

Koo Jeong-a, who modelled for Loewe in a 2023 campaign, is the artist behind South Korea’s Venice pavilion this year and its ‘Odorama Cities’ exhibition

Koo dives into the ideas behind the exhibition, which evokes a portrait of Korea through scent, and the overlap of fashion with artistic processes

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Koo Jeong-a, who was photographed for Loewe’s autumn/winter 2023 campaign and is the artist behind South Korea’s pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale, talks about the process behind the art. Photo: Juergen Teller

Zoe Suen

Published: 8:15am, 20 Apr 2024Updated: 10:56am, 21 Apr 2024

Fashion, beauty and art have always found common ground, as Korean artist Koo Jeong-a is well aware.

Koo, the artist behind the South Korean pavilion at this month’s Venice Biennale in Italy, is known for transformative and large-scale installations that play with space and the senses.

Curated by Lee Seol-hui and Jacob Fabricius, Koo’s Venice exhibition, titled “Odorama Cities”, will open on April 20 and evoke a portrait of the Korean peninsula through scent.

For the project, the artist collaborated with Korean fragrance brand Nonfiction. Together, they translated and categorised Koo’s research into 17 distinct scent experiences, as well as a commercial scent that is now available at the brand’s online and offline stores.

An installation view of Odorama Cities at the Venice Biennale. Photo: Mark Blower

In populating the physical space with interpersonal connections, narrative threads, natural elements and digital technologies, the installation builds on Koo’s oeuvre while exposing the artist’s work to a broader global audience.