As part of the exhibition program of the Rencontres d’Arles 2026, the Fondation Lee Ufan welcomes this year the Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook, who has just served as president of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival. Proposed and conceived by Valérie Duponchelle, journalist and film critic, and coordinated by Juliette Vignon, this event is an opportunity to meet and explore a lesser-known side of the director of Old Boy.
JJA : First of all, does the title of the exhibition refer to Korea’s nickname, “The Land of the Morning Calm”?
PCW : Actually, it was the choice of Valérie Duponchelle, the curator of the exhibition. Since this is a first for me in France and she is French, I think she was in the best position to find a good title. And I also believe that with this gentle phrase, it would pique the curiosity of people who know my films, which have a reputation for being violent, with action or nudity.
JJA : Your films are teeming with rather elaborate and intense stories, but your photographs, on the other hand, don’t seem to want to tell us anything?
PCW : Yes, and that is precisely why I devote myself to photography. In cinema I film movement, powerful and breathless stories, with artifice designed to capture the audience’s attention; for example, light is very important, it can make a character beautiful or grotesque. In photography there is no narration, as you say, there is only an image, alone, which must be sufficient in itself to face the gaze of the public. I would say that my films manipulate the viewer, through various devices or carefully designed sets. But as a filmmaker I don’t find that pejorative, I fully embrace it all, this manipulation is my universe, but it doesn’t represent everyone’s daily life. Everyday life doesn’t constantly veer into these extremes, and that is what I try to convey in my photographs.
JJA : It’s true that your characters rarely have a serene outlook on life, whereas in your photographs, you yourself seem almost to be discovering the world, with a contemplative gaze.
PCW : My film characters are not really in a state of serenity, that’s true. They are rather in action, they make mistakes, and all of that often leads to their downfall. For my photographs, indeed, I am more in observation, meditative.
JJA : When you practice photography, do you manage to “forget” that you are a filmmaker?
PCW : Yes, absolutely. Of course, when I photograph I could be tempted to want to change the things I see; that chair, I could light it differently or move it, or even replace it altogether because of its color, but it never crosses my mind. If I feel something is missing, I simply don’t take the photo. I hold to the idea that I must not touch anything, I don’t intervene the way I do in film.
JJA : Jean-Luc Godard said: “Photography is truth. And cinema is truth twenty-four times per second.” Does this phrase inspire you?
PCW : It’s a rather well-known quote, yes, and quite funny. I would say that when it comes to truth in photography, it depends above all on the gaze one brings to it. A single image can evoke memories from each person’s own experiences, but in different ways depending on the individual; there will be thousands of possible interpretations. A film guides its viewers in a certain direction, whereas a photograph is open to interpretation.
JJA : After having devoted your life to making images, are there still things that move or surprise you?
PCW : Yes, of course. In fact, I always have two cameras with me, color and black and white, which I take everywhere so as to be ready. A decisive moment is always possible, even if it is rare. And when that opportunity or that encounter occurs, it always feels like a miracle.
Text and interview by Jean-Jacques Ader
“Par un matin calme” Photographs by Park Chan-wook, at the Lee Ufan Foundation in Arles, from July 6 to October 4, 2026. Information: https://www.leeufan-arles.org/
Also worth noting is the exhibition “Soli-Sombre” by Pooya Abbasian, a Franco-Iranian artist, winner of the 3rd “Art & Environment Lee Ufan Arles-Guerlain” prize. His approach explores the points of contact between photography, drawing, installation, and video in order to question our contemporary relationship to images. Strongly marked by his beginnings in cinema, he conceives photography as a space of “fraction” and “breaking in,” seeking to free himself from a visual economy that shapes our modes of perception.
At Lee Ufan’s MA studio, same dates.
