A North Korean Art Museum in the Hills of Central Italy? Yes, Really ...
Koryo Studios is creating a new home for the world's biggest independent collection of North Korean art
keep me posted on the projectUnlikely to Make It to the Hermit Kingdom?
Few people get the chance to see North Korea's Socialist Realist art with their own eyes. Because you'd have to travel to the world's most elusive country.
That's not impossible.
Our Bejing-based sister company Koryo Tours has made it happen for more than 20,000 intrepid international tourists over the past 30 years.
But most people won't ever go to Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
So, at Koryo Studios, we've written best-selling books to shine a light on North Korean art. Perhaps you've read one. Or seen one of our documentaries or feature films.
Or maybe you've even caught an exhibition of part of our huge collection of more than 3,000 North Korean works of art and graphics from the 1950s to the contemporary.
That's a good start.
But now we're ready for our next big adventure.
To make this forgotten art form fully accessible to international audiences.
At the Twin Sheds Museum in Tuscany.
Unlikely to Make It to the Hermit Kingdom?
Few people in the world get the chance to see North Korea's Socialist Realist art with their own eyes. Because you'd have to travel to the world's most elusive country.
That's not impossible.
Our Bejing-based sister company Koryo Tours has made it happen for xx intrepid international tourists over the past 30 years.
But most people won't ever go to Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
So, at Koryo Studios, we've written best-selling books to shine a light on North Korean art. Perhaps you've read one. Or seen one of our documentaries or feature films.
Or maybe you've even caught an exhibition of part of our huge collection of more than 3,000 North Korean works of art and graphics from the 1950s to the contemporary.
That's a good start.
But now we're ready for our next big new adventure.
To make this forgotten art form fully accessible to international audiences. At our new Twin Sheds Museum in Tuscany.
The Twin Sheds Museum
Koryo Studios is raising funds to transform two old Italian industrial sheds in Italy into a permanent home for its collection. And put North Korean art on the world stage
The Twin Sheds Before ...
The derelict sheds are in the Colle di Val d'Elsa in Italy. It's one of Tuscany's most stunning medieval hilltop towns (don't miss a day trip here if you're in Florence, Siena or Pisa).
Why Colle di Val d'Elsa? We fell in love with it - and these beautiful sheds proved perfect for our needs.
Built in the 50s, their past life as metalworking sheds fits with the collection's recurring themes of labour and industry. And a town that grew rich on paper-making felt like a good home for a largely paper-based collection.
Then there's Tuscany. The home of academic art. You might not have guessed it - but that's the basis of North Korean art training.
The Twin Sheds After ...
We're working with ZAG architects to create a modern art museum within the façade of the sheds. It'll be tailor-made to show off our North Korean collection.
So, when you come to the new Twin Sheds museum, you'll see the full variety of our permanent collection in all its glory.
But that's not all ...
We plan a separate space for an immersive experience. As the projected works surround you and unfold into a captivating story, North Korea's Socialist Realist art form will burst into life for you.
And, in our touring exhibition space, you'll get to enjoy dynamically changing shows from other galleries and museums.
Fascinated by North Korean art? Curious to know more about this mysterious country? Want to get involved in the Twin Sheds project?
Stay in touch with us as the project takes shape
The Twin Sheds Collection
Independent
The collection has been donated to the Twin Sheds museum by Koryo Tours and Studio director Nicholas Bonner. Nicholas has been travelling to North Korea almost monthly since 1993, when he set up Koryo Tours and began taking tourists to the country. So he's been there more than 300 times. And, on every trip, he's sought out extraordinary and everyday examples of North Korean art and graphics
Balanced
Since 1945, Socialist Realism has been the only accepted art form in North Korea. Our collection includes many pieces of state-sanctioned art, but you'll also get to see artists' personal artworks and commissioned projects. This counterbalance gives you a precious peep inside the mind of artists painting in relative freedom from the proscriptons and constraints of state-controlled studios
Comprehensive
In the museum's vast collection of North Korean art, you'll find ink works, oils, linocuts, sketches, propaganda posters, film posters, graphic art, films and photographs. Plus Nicholas' fascinating gatherings of graphic ephemera like tickets, comics, cigarette wrappers, tinned fruit labels. Together it'll give you an unprecedented insight into everyday life in a country most of us will never get to visit
"Little-known abroad, misconceptions about art in North Korea abound. Art is not the free realm we are accustomed to, but this does not mean that there is no art at all"
- Dr. Koen de Coester, Lecturer of Korean Studies at Leiden University
Does the World Need a Museum of North Korean Art?
We think so. Because we believe it's important to put this forgotten art form on the global map. And, with our unique collection and the insight of decades of experience in North Korea, no one is better placed to do that than us.
But in case you're wondering about our motives for putting art works from this totalitarian country on show, let's clear one thing up ...
We're an independent foundation and have no affiliation whatsoever with the DPRK government. We're not creating a home for this art in the West because we agree with its content, sentiment or the political message.
With the Twin Sheds museum, we want to:
- Offer international audiences the chance to see North Korean art with your own eyes. And to experience and react to it as art. In your own personal way. Like in any other gallery or museum
- Give you a glimpse of life inside a secretive country that few will have the chance to visit
- Create a repository of North Korean Socialist Realist art as a new and valuable resource for art historians, political scientists and academics
- Bring the work and skill of individual North Korean artists from whom we've been commissioning work for years to international attention
"'The juxtaposition of joyful art and sad reality make each spread of 'Printed in North Korea' an emotional and intellectual experience"
Type365
"Explores the beauty of North Korean visual art - and the role of woodblock and linocut prints in spreading propaganda"
Creative Review
"A fascinating look at a country that remains mysterious to many in the west ... will captivate you with its abundance of beautiful images"
Art & Object
Works in Ink
Works in Oil
Linocuts/Woodblocks
Propaganda Posters
Film Posters
Graphic Emphemera
Commissioned Art
Films & Documentaries
Books
Proudly Achieved
Film Firsts and Awards
Koryo Studio's 2002 The Game of Their Lives was the first film to have official access to ordinary North Korean citizens. It told the tale the DPRK football team's dramatic upset in the 1996 World Cup. And won the Royal Television Society's Best Sports Documentary
Venice Biennale winners
The Twin Sheds art collection includes works commissioned by Koryo Studios from North Korean artists for the Korean Pavilion at the 2014 Venice Architectural Biennale. This joint North-South Korean Pavilion won the Biennale's top prize, the Golden Lion
Best-selling Books
Made in North Korea and Printed in North Korea opened foreign eyes to the breadth of the country's art and design. Waterstones bookshop hailed this "rare glimpse into the country behind the politics and the creativity behind the propaganda"
Prestigious APT Commission
Australia's Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art asked Koryo Studios in 2010 to commission a special body of contemporary art work. It looked at the nature of labour and collectivism. And gave North Korean artists the space to work more intimately, outside the normal rules
Linocut tour of the USA
We pulled off the USA's first exhibition of North Korean linocuts, in partnership with the Korea Society of New York. It toured for three years. Society director Jinyoung Kim hoped to spark curiousity and to bring 'a larger wave of appreciation' of North and South Korea
'The Beautiful Future'
North Korean artists, British creative Dominic Johnson-Hill and Nicholas Bonner reimagined Beijing in 8 paintings. "The results give an intriguing insight into the North Korean artists' vision of what Chinese modernity might be like in a land they'll never know," The Guardian
"It offers a portrait of life in North Korea that few of us will have ever seen before ... If you want to learn about life in this most reticent and yet fascinating of countries, this book is both essential and irresistible"
- Michael Palin, British comedian and world traveller, on Koryo Studio's book 'Printed in North Korea'
What is Socialist Realism?
It's an art form that expresses the valour of labour and struggle. North Korea is the only country in the world where art is restricted purely to this single genre. No abstract art is allowed and any development in style is incremental. Socialist Realism represents the extremes of both an art genre and a political system
"It offers a portrait of life in North Korea that few of us will have ever seen before ... If you want to learn about life in this most reticent and yet fascinating of countries, this book is both essential and irresistible"
- Michael Palin, British comedian and world traveller, on Koryo Studio's book 'Printed in North Korea'
What is Socialist Realism?
It's an art form that expresses the valour of labour and struggle. North Korea is the only country in the world where art is restricted purely to this single genre. No abstract art is allowed and any development in style is incremental. Socialist Realism represents the extremes of both an art genre and a political system
Supporting the Twin Sheds Museum Project is Easy
With 30 years experience in North Korea, we're masters of overcoming obstacles and making extraordinary things happen. We're looking for support to do it again with the Twin Sheds museum.
Want to get behind the project with your enthusiasm, your expertise or your funding?
Click the Button
Sign up to get project updates
Follow our Progress
Read our monthly emails
Get More Involved
Want to do more? Get in touch
Nicholas Bonner on the Twin Sheds' Art:
“The collection wasn't purchased for investment, but built up over 30 years of working in North Korea, visiting most months, and buying gradually from the art studios and individual artists.
Initially my fascination was with propaganda works. But as I came to understand more over the years, I worked with artists and the collection became more nuanced. This led to tracking down artists who were painting back in the 1950s, purchasing their personal studies and eventually to working on commissions, so working with the artists in their studios.
The motivation for showing the collection is very much like that of any other museum - to highlight individual artists and their work, to offer a glimpse into a sealed-off world and a chance to reflect on otherness, and to encourage our visitors to think outside the box."
