Chaelim Kwon (The Large Glass department, Gerrit Rietveld Academie) was selected through the Open Call by Public & Projects to take over the Pavilion of the Rietveld Academie one week in November 2025.
Chaelim Kwon initiated a collective kimchi making event for the week she occupied the Pavilion.
Fill their Jar (after our wait for Kimchi, Kimchi lasts to await the people)
The traditional process of making Kimchi requires collective knowledge and energy, both physical and spiritual. With the harvested vegetables, we wash, cut, salt, fill, fold, preserve, and wait for the kimchi consciously. The wait is filled with collective hope, anticipation, and appreciation. When it is finally time, we share the co-creation with public. As Kimjang (김장, Kimchi-making) is an intense work, we make sure to make a surplus and share the abundance.
A humble yet complete Kimchi lasts long enough to savor with their own pace, which allows diverse experiments of meals. As we end up eating and sharing, eventually there is no physical end-product left that takes up space permanently. But when it’s all eaten, is the Kimchi really gone?
When we make kimchi together, what we collectively make and eat is shared and stored in our beings, independently and communally. The memories, taste, time, community, and old wisdom are passed on through our muscles and mouth. These intangible parts of a dish remain, and shape us.
Photos by Matija Stojanovic
Poster and drawings by Chaelim Kwon