The Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul has opened "Inside other spaces: Environments by women artists 1956-1976," an exhibition restoring immersive artworks by 11 women artists from Asia, Europe, and South America, including Jung Kang-ja, Judy Chicago, Tsuruko Yamazaki, and Aleksandra Kasuba. The show revives pieces that were often dismantled after their original displays, such as Jung Kang-ja's "Incorporeal Exhibition," which was destroyed in 1970 after being deemed political propaganda under South Korea's authoritarian regime. Curators Andrea Lissoni and Marina Pugliese, who first organized the project at Haus Der Kunst in Munich, worked with researchers to reconstruct the works using archival materials, correspondence, and blueprints.
This exhibition matters because it addresses a historical gap in art history, where women artists' contributions to immersive art—a medium that was often ephemeral and poorly documented—have been overlooked or lost. By restoring these environments, the museum not only reclaims the legacy of these artists but also highlights how immersive art, which resists commodification, offered women a freer space for expression in a postwar era dominated by painting and sculpture. The show demonstrates the growing institutional effort to recover marginalized art histories and underscores the importance of archival research in preserving ephemeral works.