designboom · Kunst en ontwerp

Daniel Arsham Creates Moving Sculpture with Barley for The Balvenie at Frieze Seoul

Artist Daniel Arsham has unveiled a performative installation featuring barley grains and a unique sculpture for The Balvenie whiskey at Frieze Seoul 2026. The installation marks the debut of The 1931 Collection, a series of single malts presented in specially designed vessels.

At Space S50 in Seoul, a circular bed of barley grains serves as a stage for four performers who reshape the material with sweeping gestures. This eight-part performance, choreographed by Sukyung Yoo and set to a soundscape from The Balvenie distillery, translates the traditional malting process into kinetic art.

The installation highlights The Balvenie's Home Malting Floor, opened in 1931 and still functional today. That same year, cask #239 was filled, maturing for eighty-eight years before being bottled into seventeen decanters in 2019. Arsham designed an architectural vessel for this rare spirit, viewing its maturation as a geological transformation.

The sculpture housing the 88-year-old single malt is a split vessel. Its front features eight layers of hand-patinated bronze, symbolizing each decade of aging and mimicking the verdigris on copper stills. The rear consists of 88 layered sections of oak. At its center is a copper disc from a decommissioned still, containing a hand-blown crystal decanter with 18-karat gold gilding and a stopper shaped like the distillery's pot stills.

Arsham stated his aim was to create something that feels both ancient and contemporary, making the passage of time tangible, reflecting his interest in time, material transformation, and the histories objects carry.

The 1931 Collection also includes a Twelve-Year-Old and a Fifteen-Year-Old single malt, with packaging featuring debossed surfaces and copper-colored linings. The Fifteen-Year-Old uses 100% home-malted barley, while the Twelve-Year-Old mirrors the maturation process of cask #239. Following its Seoul debut, the installation and collection will tour to New York, Shanghai, and Taipei.

AI-samenvatting op basis van de bron.