Korea Bojagi Forum 2023
CALL FOR BOJAGI INSPIRED ART
May 27 – 31, 2023, Seoul, South Korea
The Korea Bojagi Forum (KBF) is normally a biennial conference that brings together artists, textile lovers, and scholars from around the world to celebrate the Korean tradition of the wrapping cloth as a continuing source of inspiration for contemporary fiber art.
KBF 2023 is to take place in the 27th to the 31st of May. We have very recently been given the green light after the strict pandemic measures imposed by most countries that forced us to cancel the 2020 event. Korea has opened its doors last year and now all restrictions have been dropped. Thus we are again taking up its organization. The 2023 Korea Bojagi Forum is to take place in the very heart of Seoul – in the City Hall’s Citizens’ Gallery. The KBF will include a conference, juried exhibitions, workshops and a cultural tour. It promises to be an exciting meeting ground for textile lovers, showcasing of Korean culture amidst international artworks.
The 2023 KBF takes a look at the origins of bojagi, born out of the necessity of storing, wrapping, covering and repairing worn or torn garments. Those un-named women with their basic sewing skills sought a harmonious aesthetic, transcending the mere solution to the necessity in patching their families’ damaged clothing, which eventually evolved into a cultural aesthetic. The rudimentary, initial bojagi speaks of those no-name women, the makers and seeders of this Korean tradition.
The Korean Bojagi Forum focuses on the possibilities of bojagi in the design field, contrasting the hand craftsmanship of bojagi and its possible extensions into designed, industrially produced means as an interesting challenge to designers and artists. Distinguished and creative projects by authors are to be presented, as well as the contrast of the unnamed makers of bojagi to prestigious labels. It is in this interstice that artists and designers can present their original, serial or unique, artworks.
KBF is accepting entries for the 2023 Korea Bojagi Forum’s international juried exhibitions. KBF seeks to exhibit a wide range of outstanding bojagi-inspired works in fiber or mixed media. We seek reinterpretations of this traditional art form that test its boundaries and go beyond to unexpected formats. Accepted entries will be featured in the Forum exhibitions and documented in a full-color catalog.
The 2023 Call to Exhibition is open to all artists 18 years and over working in the field of fiber art. All work submitted must be original, completed in the last five years and not have been previously exhibited in any KBF exhibitions. (Artists who had registered in the cancelled 2020 Call, may submit these works anew.)
Work Categories: Works are sought for the following three categories:
• Interior Non-wearable works,
• Bojagi Inspired Wearables, based on Korean traditional Hanbok garments,
• My First Bojagi, a return to original creations founded on necessity.
Size restrictions: are as follows:
• Non-wearable Bojagi: maximum length of 130 cm (51”) and maximum of 60 cm
(24″) in width.
• Wearable Bojabi: Human body-size.
• My First Bojagi: maximum size in any direction 25 cm (10”).
Submission fee: $65 US Dlls. for first entry. Additional entries $30 each.
(Students with a valid student card may register only for My First Bojagi exhibition as first entry at a discounted fee of $30 USD, subsequent entries remain at $30 USD per entry.)
Image requirements:
Three high quality images per work in JPEG format, 300 ppi, 1500 pixels wide. File size
should not exceed 5 Mb.
File name: Label images: lastname_firstname_nameofwork.jpeg — spelled out in full.
• One image of general view of the artwork
• Two images of details .
All submissions will be reviewed by the International Jury:
• Kim Chandong – Art critic and Curator, Former Director of I Park Museum of Art, Suwon. Comissioner for the official Korea Collateral Exhibition of the 2024 Venice Biennale.
• Beatrijs Sterk –founder and former president of the European Textile Network; founder and editor of Textile Forum magazine for 30 years; and juror to many international textile art events such as the Rijswijk Textile Art Biennial, Riga International Textile Art Triennial, and World Textile Art Biennials, among others. Currently publisher of Textile-Forum-Blog.org
• Yosi Anaya, PhD, researcher in textiles at the Art Institute of Veracruz University in Mexico; organizer and curator of textile events such as the VI WTA Biennial-Air with over 35 exhibitions in three cities of México. In the recent X WTA biennial in Miami, she was co-curator and sole curator for the WTA Biennial National show. She is a contemporary artist and her research takes her to work with traditional artisans in the regions of her country.
All selected artworks will be featured in the full-color catalog produced by KBF, which can purchased at $40.00 per copy, plus shipping of approx. $30.
• Exhibiting artists will receive a copy of the 2023 KBF catalog. which can be included in the package of the returning artwork, with the added postage fee, or sent separately by post. Return of works as of June 25th.
The costs of sending and return of the artworks shall be borne by each artist. Works must be sent in bubble/paper envelope or cardboard box, not in a wooden box.
Once received, the work will be insured for the duration of the exhibition for the stipulated value. Artists are responsible for insuring their work during transit to and from the exhibition space.
Other Policies
Applications received after the due date will not be reviewed.
Works that are not accompanied by the respective submission fees will not be reviewed.

CALENDAR
April 15, 2023: Deadline for sending in to the address below Registration form, artwork images and proof of payment registration fee. to be paid to this PayPal account:
chunghielee.kbf@gmail.com
by April 20, 2023: Notice of selected artworks to artists.
May 22, 2023: Deadline for receipt of selected artworks in Seoul, via parcel/postal service.
May 23, 2023: Deadline for receipt of hand-delivered artworks.
May 23-24, 2023: Exhibition design process.
May 25-26, 2023 (Thurs & Fri): Installation of artworks.
May 27, 2023 (Saturday): Grand Opening of KBF Exhibitions
and Bojagi Inspired “Fashion in Motion” event.
May 28, 2023 (Sun): Cultural Tour (exhibition gallery closed)
$30.00 USD per person. (Pre-registration required)
includes; entrance and visit to the Folk Art Museum, behind-the-scenes at Seoul Museum of Craft Art  https://craftmuseum.seoul.go.kr ,
street food experience, and guidance in the traditional market place for hand-woven Korean cloth: ramie, hemp, silk.
May 29, 2023 (Mon): Conference (program to be available soon) $30.USD.
May 30 (Tues): Workshops: Korean techniques applicable to textile creative processes
1. Saeksil Nubi & Basic Bojagi Making
Citizen’s Hall Lecture Rm., Traditional raised linear effect quilting $40.USD
2. Joomchi, Korean traditional textured paper making. Citizen’s Hall Lecture Room
$40.USD
3 & 4. Persimmon Dye & Gamchilgil (감침질) combined workshop,
Unique brownish colors obtained with help from the sun. / This Gamchimgil stitching technique can be applied to 2-D and 3-D objects such as small sculpture and body ornament making.
Bukchon Cultural Center, Bukchon $100 USD
(The instructor will guide participants to other traditional small studios after the workshop.)
May 31, 2023 (Wed): Closing Ceremony at Citizens’ Gallery Taking down of Exhibition.
Closing Gala Dinner
• Fee: $60 USD per person (alcohol to be paid individually) (Pre-registration required)
.
June 25-28, 2023: Return of artworks with corresponding catalogues.