Leeum Revives Forgotten Women Artists Who Pioneered Environmental Art
Cho Sang-in, Seoul Economic Daily
June 2026
In the middle of a densely wooded park, a 3.6-meter-wide cube-shaped room wrapped in red vinyl floats in the air. The work, striking in its contrast of green and red, sits 70 centimeters above the ground, requiring viewers to bend down to enter. Inside, visitors experience full immersion in a red-soaked space; from outside, they can watch the people within as if observing a shadow theater. The interactive piece was first presented by artist Tsuruko Yamazaki in 1956 at the Second Gutai Outdoor Art Exhibition in Ashiya Park, Japan. Twenty years later, when the 1976 Venice Biennale commissioned curator Germano Celant to organize its central exhibition under the theme of “ambiente,” the work was spotlighted as the first example of environmental art created by a woman artist. […]