“I don’t know where I want to die. I think I shall die somewhere, making a show…and I shall be in a country very far away. Making a retrospective in Ulaanbaatar. Like the old clown, traveling all the time and dying on the road.”
—From a 2015 conversation with Hiroshi Sugimoto

As the third exhibition of the series Lee Ufan and His Friends, the Busan Museum of Art hosts Christian Boltanski: 4.4. This is Boltanski's largest retrospective held in Korea since a 1997 solo exhibition at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, as well as his first posthumous exhibition. The title of the exhibition, 4.4, refers to 1944, the year he was born.  The artist once said that it is interesting that the number four symbolizes death in Korea since its pronunciation “sa” is identical to that of a Chinese character meaning death (“sa”). During the preparation of the exhibition, the artist was aware that he did not have many remaining days to live. He deliberately chose this title because he thought that this moment to him was like “the last stage of life,” if life were divided into four stages. In addition, the period after the number four is also a signifier symbolizing the end of the artist’s life.

This exhibition consists of a total of 43 pieces ranging from Boltanski’s earliest to his most recent works. The exhibition is on the third floor of the main exhibition hall and the ground floor of Space Lee Ufan, where visitors are greeted by the Korean typography of “Departure” and “Arrival” and the French “Après (After)” designed by the artist himself. These are not words to delimit the sections of the exhibition, but rather guideposts to “life and death,” questions about which the artist throughout his lifetime has always posed to viewers. 

IMAGES: CHRISTIAN BOLTANSKI, 4.4, BUSAN MUSEUM OF ART, BUSAN, KOREA, 2021 ⓒ CHRISTIAN BOLTANSKI / ADAGP, PARIS, 2021 PHOTO CREDIT: BUSAN MUSEUM OF ART.