Book Launch: International Friendship

On 15 May, Framer Framed will host the launch of International Friendship: The Gifts from Africa, an anthology focused on the documentary-filmmaking practice of CHE Onejoon and the artist's research into the statues, monuments, and buildings built by North Korea in Africa from the 1970s to the present. During the launch Che will be in conversation with curator and contributor to the book Inga Lāce. Register via Eventbrite to join.

This event is FREE and in English.

International Friendship: The Gifts from Africa (Kehrer Verlag, 2022) consists of research around CHE Onejoon's documentary projects, Mansudae Master Class and International Friendship. The projects traces the statues, monuments, and buildings built by North Korea in Africa from the 1970s to the present and the historical background. North Korea's Mansudae Art Studio has constructed statues, monuments, and buildings in about 18 countries in Africa. Among them, roughly half of the countries received these constructions from Kim Il-sung for free. Behind this North Korean diplomatic strategy of offering statues, monuments, and buildings to Africa, there was a diplomatic competition between North and South Korea. Just after the Armistice at the end of the Korean War in 1953, the Military Demarcation Line and the stationing of the U.S. Army in South Korea had always been an issue in the United Nations. This has not been generally perceived in the Western world as well as African countries.

This book deals with the historical background and critical writings about Mansudae Master Class and International Friendship as a documentary project, including the essays of experts from various fields such as history, photography, art history, and art criticism, among others.