금호알베르

architechu

‘Put an elephant in the fridge’ is a famous meme that once circulated on the internet. It depicted a professor telling a graduate student to ‘put an elephant in the fridge by tomorrow,’ followed by the student’s perplexed expression. The humor derives from knowing the impossibility of fitting an elephant, larger than a fridge, inside it.

Today’s space is the Tambourines pop-up exhibition at Geumho Alber. Although it’s factual that the worldwide star Blackpink’s ‘Jennie’ filming a commercial had a significant influence on the exhibition’s success, the giant art installation featured has arguably sparked equal curiosity. Most may wonder how such a colossus could be fitted into the building; a question that intrigued me deeply.

‘How did they fit a building-sized sculpture into a building?’

Considering architecture is made following ‘human scale,’ unless the structure serves a special purpose (e.g., museum, warehouse, factory), fitting such vast works inside is impractical, especially older buildings not initially meant for such tasks. Upon arrival, no visible entrances seemed large enough for the giant sculpture. Clarity was only achieved upon reaching the top floor.

The exhibition unfolds its message as visitors ascend, combining glimpses of the giant art piece on each floor until the full image comes together on the rooftop, alongside various experiential spaces prepared on each level.

Starting from the basement floor, visitors can enjoy a sound exhibition, followed by the giant’s upper body and an art film on the first floor, personalized perfume consulting on the second floor with Tambourines’ newly launched perfume at the ‘Perfume Bar’, and finally, a counter to purchase perfumes while overlooking the giant on the top floor.

Reaching this floor, some guesses on the installation’s secret begin to clarify.

Was it Ron Mueck’s sculptures that inspired such wonder on how such a massive piece was installed?

The first guess involves using the skylight on the rooftop, which might have allowed the sculpture to be lowered by a crane in one go, with internal assembly due to the ceiling’s smaller opening compared to the sculpture’s size.

The second guess speculates the use of lighting through the ceiling to create effective exhibition visuals, implying the giant could have been inflated inside, similar to a balloon principle.

The third suggests the piece was built from within from the start.

Despite the hypotheses, the pop-up exhibition provides a deeply enjoyable experience, enriched by the curiosity the giant stirs, even for those already familiar with the theories. Coming face-to-face with the giant, surpassing ‘human scale,’ offers a uniquely amusing encounter. As someone not well-versed in fragrances – in fact, someone who tends to avoid scents – I couldn't fully embrace all aspects of the experience, but the joyful expressions of the visitors were evident.

This is the story of how you put an elephant in the fridge, encapsulated in the Tambourines pop-up exhibition #GeumhoAlber.

Location _ Seoul, Seongdong-gu, Geumho-ro 3-gil, 14 Geumho Alber

Exhibition Name <Solace : A Moment of Comfort>

Exhibition Period <2022-09-30 – 2022-10-30>

Walk-ins welcome

Admission Free [ Perfume consulting available via prior reservation. ]

Exhibition Hours _ 11-19

Parking [ Nearby parking spaces available ]