K-Pop Supergroup BTS Commissioned Star Artists to Make Artworks Around the World—See Them Here

K-Pop is on a mission to take over the world. And on this
mission, the latest ally is contemporary art, with South
Korean boyband BTS sprearheading a wildly ambitious global public
art initiative that aims to excite its millions of fans and bring
in new ones.

In January, the band initiated the project, known
as CONNECT, BTS. The stars commissioned 27
artists to create projects in five cities around the world, all in
a humble bid “to redefine the relationships between art and music,
the material and immaterial, artists and their audiences, artists
and artists, theory and practice.”

The results have been astonishing. BTS has a global fanbase of
millions, nicknamed ARMY, and these dedicated troops have been
bonding with art lovers around the world. When the superstars lent
their name to an art project by Tomás
Saraceno, more than 500 die-hard fans turned up to the remote,
off-the-grid location of Argentina’s great salt lake in Jujuy to
mix with indigenous tribes and celebrate the artist’s attempt to
break six world records. Millions more tuned in to watch
online.

The other projects in London, Seoul, Berlin, and New York have
had a similarly impressive response. Clearly, the global audience
for the K-Pop stars has the potential to bring in a whole new
audience to art. See images of the six art projects below.

UK

What: For CONNECT, BTS, Danish artist Jakob Kudsk
Steensen showed a new work called Catharsis at the
Serpentine Galleries in London. Steensen has created a digital
simulation of a re-imagined “old-growth” forest. The simulated
landscape is set up as a single continuous shot panning from the
roots to the canopy of an ancient forest. BTS fans turned out to the gallery in droves to see
the band tune in via livestream to introduce the project.

Jakob Kudsk Steensen’s “Catharsis” is on view at the
Serpentine Galleries, London, through March 15.

GERMANY

What: The Gropius Bau’s Stephanie Rosenthal and
Noémie Solomon co-curated a series of performance works by more
than 17 international artists called “Rituals of Care,” featuring
performances of experimental choreography and healing ceremonies to
sonic environments. The program aimed to “explore the necessary
conditions for coming together and tending to environments, to
physical and spiritual worlds and to other beings.” Featured
artists included Jelili Atiku, boychild with Josh Johnson and Total
Freedom, Cevdet Erek, Marcelo Evelin, Bill Fontana, Maria Hassabi,
Mette Ingvartsen with Will Guthrie, Baba Murah and Candomblé
Berlin, Antonija Livingstone and Nadia Lauro with Mich Cota, Kennis
Hawkins and Stephen Thompson.

“Rituals of Care” was performed at Gropius Bau in Berlin
until February 2.

ARGENTINA

What: The Argentinian artist Tomás Saraceno broke six
world records with his project Fly with Aerocene Pacha.
In solidarity with the indigenous communities of Argentina’s great
salt lake, Salinas Grandes, whose land is increasingly threatened
by mining for lithium, a raw material in batteries, Saraceno
organized the first fully solar powered human flight. Hundreds of
BTS fans made the long journey to the remote location to take in
the amazing feat.

A series of films chronicling Saraceno’s astonishing flight
over the Salinas Grandes are on view at Centro Cultural Kirchner in
Buenos Aires through March 22.

SOUTH KOREA

What: Two major exhibitions are being shown at
Seoul’s Zaha Hadid-designed exhibition hall. The Belgian artist Ann
Veronica Janssens is presenting a disorienting sensory environment
of green, yellow, and pink mist. Meanwhile, the Korean artist Yiyun
Kang is showing large-scale digital work that uses projection
mapping technology to reimagine some of BTS’s signature dance
moves.

“Anne Veronica Janssens: GREEN, YELLOW AND PINK” and “Yiyun
Kang: BEYOND The SCENE” are on view at DDP Design Exhibition Hall
in Seoul, South Korea, through March 20.

USA

What: The British sculptor Antony Gormley has
created a massive “drawing in space” titled New York
Clearing (2020). The work is made from an 11-mile-long
single line of square aluminum tubing, which loops and coils
without beginning or end. The swooping work aims to provide a foil
to the Modernist grid of New York City.

Antony Gormley’s ‘New York Clearing’ (2020) is on view
at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 3, New York through March
27.

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