Banned Books : Ghosts from the Bamboo Forest seeks to offer new insights into an important chapter of publishing history by connecting contemporary art with banned books.

Banned books refer to books that were prohibited from publication and distribution or withdrawn by people in power for political, religious, ideological, or other reasons. Rather than taking a pedagogical form of display that arranges information in a linear, conventional fashion, the exhibition extends the theme of banned books by incorporating the expressions and interpretations of contemporary art. The curators of the exhibition, Haeju Kim (deputy director, Art Sonje Center) and Hyo Gyoung Jeon (curator, Art Sonje Center), invited Korean artist Rho Jae Oon and connected the theme of banned books with the motif of “the return of the suppressed” widely implicated in Rho’s works. The exhibition introduces the idea of censorship appearing in Korea’s modern and contemporary history along with books banned in other Asian regions including Japan, Taiwan, Turkey, Malaysia, and Thailand, which were provided by a number of Asian institutions proud to sponsor or cooperate in the exhibition. Banned Books: Ghosts from the Bamboo Forest provides an opportunity to reflect upon the freedom of publishing and reading books.

Host l Korean Publishers Association
Organizer l Seoul International Book Fair, Art Sonje Center
Planner l Art Sonje Center
Sponsor l Japan Book Publishers Association, Malaysian Book Publishers Association, Taipei Book Fair Foundation, Turkish Publishers Association, Seoul National University Library, Senshu University(Japan), Silkworm Books(Thailand)