Grounded in Concrete by Antony Gormley & Tadao Ando
A new permanent installation by Tadao Ando, created for British sculptor Antony Gormley, forms the centrepiece of Gormley’s largest Korean exhibition to date at Museum SAN.
Tucked beneath a flower garden in the forested hills of Wonju, South Korea, a quiet, powerful collaboration has taken shape. Ground, as part of the wider exhibition Drawing on Space, which spans 48 works across sculpture, drawing, and installation, it is the first space ever conceived specifically to permanently house Gormley’s work. The intervention is both architectural and elemental: a 25-metre-wide subterranean dome, formed in concrete and punctuated by a single oculus overhead. It is a space carved from earth and light through the lens of Ando’s restraint and Gormley’s deep interest in the body’s relationship to space.
Visitors descend into the pavilion via a spiralling path, first encountering seven cast-iron figures from Gormley’s Blockworks series. Viewed through a panoramic glazed wall, the sculptures appear caught in stillness—crouching, sitting, standing—anchored within the vast, circular chamber. As visitors enter the dome itself, the experience becomes immersive. The weight of the concrete is balanced by the delicate wash of daylight, drawing in the surrounding garden and distant mountain views. One final figure stands beyond the aperture, aligning interior and landscape—a gesture that blurs boundaries between structure, sculpture, and setting.
For Modscape, it’s a project that speaks to a shared sensibility—where architecture is shaped by how people move through it, not just how it stands. Like Gormley’s work, our spaces are designed to be felt as much as seen. The clarity of structure, the controlled use of light, and the connection to landscape all echo the principles we return to again and again: simplicity, spatial clarity, and the power of material to support calm, intentional living.
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