Part of the Asia Society Triennial: We Do Not Dream Alone
As an Asia Society Triennial artist, Mina Cheon created an online EatChocopieTogether.com website that raised funds for Korean American Community Foundation Covid-19 Action Fund just by having people sharing virtual Choco Pies around the world. This project was written to have been the opening gambit of the Asia Society Triennial by ArtReview Asia and was also featured in VICE Garage Magazine.The physical Chocopies installation will be shown this spring with Mina Cheon's artworks at the Asia Society Museum in New York exhibited beginning March that deals with asynchronous communication with North Koreans.
https://eatchocopietogether.com/
EATING CHOCOPIE TOGETHER, VIRTUALLY
For Korean artist Mina Cheon, the symbolic gesture of eating Chocopie represents “taking a bite for peace.” In addition to the physical “Eat Chocopie Together” art installation in 2021 for the inaugural Asia Society Triennial (October 27, 2020 - June 27, 2021), this website presents a special virtual version as a part of the Triennial. While in the past, Cheon's "Eat Chocopie Together" was about physically eating it onsite at the exhibition, the virtual chocopie strengthens the focus of sharing it together virtually for the sake of love, peace, and unity... leading up to the actual installation before the end of the Triennial where everyone is welcomed. The virtual Chocopie sharing also helps raise automatic funds to help those in need during our time of the pandemic crisis.
HISTORY OF CHOCOPIES
Chocopies, a South Korean confectionary, became one of the most desirable consumer products in North Korea, ever since they were gifted by South Korean workers to their peers from the North at the jointly managed Kaesong Industrial Complex. South Korean activists even used helium balloons to launch thousands of Chocopies over the DMZ border into North Korea, some with messages of love and care. It has thus become a cultural symbol of Korean compassion and cooperation.
