1989 – THE BERLIN WALL From the Fall of the Berlin Wall to DMZ

PRESS RELEASE

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of South Korea and the French collector Sylvestre Verger present at the Olympic Games Museum in Seoul,

from June 15 to August 21, 2005, an important exhibition entitled:

From the Fall of the Berlin Wall to DMZ

Paris, June 13, 2005 – The exhibition From the Fall of the Berlin Wall to DMZ [the acronym stands for De Militarized Zone, the border zone separating North and South Korea] gathers forty-two works by world-renown artists (Sol LEWITT, ARMAN, Eduardo CHILLIDA, Vladimir VELICKOVIC, TAKIS, Boris ZABOROV, Dennis OPPENHEIM, Richard LONG, Mimmo PALADINO, Daniel BUREN, Ilya KABAKOV etc.), which are part of the collection of Sylvestre Verger. These works, each one of them made on a blank, concrete section of the former security Wall of Berlin, will be presented along with works specifically created by Korean artists on fragments from the Wall, identical in dimensions, and incorporating objects of propaganda removed from the DMZ.

Presented in Madrid (1991), London (1991), Lyons (1996), Nicosia (1998), Cologne (2001), as well as at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva (2004) to great public and media acclaim, this exhibition is highly symbolic for Korea, divided since 1953, and where major military and political tensions remain on either side of the DMZ. When the former president of the Soviet Union Mr. Gorbachev visited this exhibition with his wife Raïssa in Lyons on December 9, 1996, he shared in the visitor’s book his wish that the events and feelings tied to the construction and fall of the Berlin Wall and recounted through this exhibition, may teach a lesson to future generations.

This event is organized by the Committee for Cultural Projects, under the auspices of the President of the French Senate, Mr. Christian PONCELET, the Prime Minister of the Republic of South Korea, Mr. Hae-chan LEE and the Mayor of Berlin, Klaus WOWEREIT, as part of the festivities held to commemorate the 60^th anniversary of the Independence of Korea from Japan and the 5^th anniversary of dialogue between North and South Korea initiated by Mr. Dae-jong KIM, former president of the Republic of South Korea and Peace Nobel Prize recipient. Hosted in several other cities in Korea after Seoul, it will end its tour in Busan, South Korea’s second largest city, where is will coincide with the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit scheduled in November 2005.

This unique collection was saved from dispersal by Sylvestre Verger in 1993. Since this date, he has worked to enlarge and bring it to life thanks to the authorization granted to him to acquire twelve blank concrete fragments from the Berlin Wall. During its presentation in Nicosia (Cyprus) in 1998, for instance, a national contest open to artists was organized by the Ministry of Culture and Education and the City. The work of Theodoulos was chosen to enter in the collection, thus representing the artistic testimony of an artist living in the last capital of the world still divided.

Sylvestre Verger is the founder of sVo Art, a private company specialized in the production and organization of international art exhibitions. Appointed General Administrator of the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris since 2000, he has produced major exhibitions such as Raphaël, Grace and Beauty, 2000-01; Modigliani, 2002; Botticelli. From Lorenzo the Magnificent to Savonarola, 2003-04; Matisse, A Second Life, 2005.

The website www.berlin1989.com will be updated shortly, offering a dedicated space for the downloading of materials and visuals on this exhibition to the Press.

For further information, kindly contact: Anne Eschapasse, aeschapasse@svoart.com

sVo Art, 18 rue d’Anjou 78000 Versailles – France ; Tel : + 33 1 39 50 75 85 / Fax : + 33 1 39 53 30 09