On Saturday, 3 October, SCREEN TIME: Signals in Translation through Korean Video Art brought Korean contemporary video art to HEK in Basel. The programme brought works by six Korean video artists to Basel as part of SCREEN TIME, an exchange between HEK and SONGEUN in Seoul. The project started in 2025 with a first screening in Seoul, and this time it was Basel’s turn.

From Seoul to Basel

This year’s SCREEN TIME featured works by JEONG Kahee, JEONG Sophie, KIM Daum, KIM Woojin, LEE Jade Sujin and SHON Soomin. The six artists were selected through an open call organised by SONGEUN. Their works looked at technology and society from different angles, and at how technology is experienced and understood in contemporary Korean life.

Before the screening

Before everyone took their seats, we started the evening with Meet & Greet with artists over a light Korean apéro. For us, it was also a chance to meet some of the people behind the works and introduce our community in Switzerland to a different side of contemporary Korea.

Our Friends of Korea team prepared jumeokbap, kimchijeon, japchae mandu, Korean soy-honey chicken, kimchi and tteok. It was a simple way to welcome everyone before the screening, and, as so often happens around Korean food, people quickly started talking. It was especially nice to see familiar faces and families from our community.

Art, food and familiar faces

Then it was time for the screening. Seeing the room fill up and watching the six works together was a nice ending to an evening. These are the evenings we like at Friends of Korea: discovering something new about Korea, meeting people we might not otherwise meet, and seeing old friends again.

Thank you

A big thank you to HEK, Basel-Stadt and SONGEUN, and especially to Dr. Marlene Wenger, Josias Planta and Laurencina Farrant-Lee for the collaboration.

Thank you as well to all six participating artists and to everyone who spent the evening with us.

And finally, a special thank you to our Friends of Korea team, JiSoo Park, Bijing Xiong, Fatima and Cherin Lim, for preparing, setting up, serving, refilling and somehow still smiling at the end. ❤️