Bohnchang Koo’s “Latidos invisibles” in Madrid: Moon Jars, White Silence and the Photography of Time

Some photographs are taken in a fraction of a second and then ask for an hour of your attention. Bohnchang Koo knows this better than most. “I took these images in less than a fraction of a second, but they ask the viewer for time,” the South Korean photographer says of the work in “Latidos invisibles” (Invisible Heartbeats), his solo exhibition at Galería Blanca Berlín in Madrid, from 24 October 2026 to 9 January 2027. It is a show to slow down for.

Bohnchang Koo: a pioneer of Korean contemporary photography

Born in 1953, Koo studied photography in Hamburg in the early 1980s and returned to Korea in 1985. Three years later he organised “The New Wave of Photography” at the Walker Hill Art Center in Seoul, an exhibition widely credited with helping to establish photography as a contemporary art form in Korea. Over four decades he has produced more than fifty series, and he teaches video and photography at Kyungil University. His standing was confirmed by “Koo Bohnchang’s Voyages,” a major retrospective at the Seoul Museum of Art that ran from December 2023 to March 2024.

The colour white

The Madrid exhibition gathers several series — Portraits of Time, White, Pencil of Nature, Interiors, Snow, Soap and EWB — and the gallery presents them as a meditation on opposites: life and death, permanence and absence. Its quiet, minimalist images follow the traces that time leaves on things. White runs through the whole show as emptiness, silence and pause, an idea the gallery connects to East Asian ink painting, where the unpainted paper is as active as the brushstroke. Forms are pared down to points, lines and surfaces. The cover image here, Interiors 06 (2003), shows how little Koo needs: a few tonal shifts, a hint of structure, and a great deal of air.

The moon jars

The emotional centre of the show may be its separate section, “Vessels.” For years Koo has photographed Joseon-dynasty moon jars — the large, softly asymmetrical white porcelain vessels that have become emblems of Korean aesthetics. The jars in this section are ones that left Korea during the Japanese occupation and were sold to collectors and museums abroad. Koo pays close attention to the marks age has left on their surfaces: stains, crackles, small losses. Photographed as individual presences rather than catalogue objects, they become portraits — of things, of a dispersed heritage, and of time itself. It is a theme with resonance in Europe, where so many museums hold objects whose journeys began in moments of loss.

Galería Blanca Berlín: Madrid’s photography address

Galería Blanca Berlín on Calle del Limón, opposite the Conde Duque cultural centre, specialises in photography. On the same day it also opens “Sueños de animal, el sueño eterno,” a series of photographs of stuffed animals begun in 1988 by Spanish photographer Valentín Vallhonrat — so one visit offers two very different approaches to the camera, time and mortality. The Conde Duque neighbourhood, between Malasaña and Argüelles, is an easy walk from Plaza de España.

What collectors and photographers should take away

• Collectors: Koo is a foundational figure in Korean photography with a recent museum retrospective; seeing a cross-section of series in a European gallery is uncommon.
• Photographers: the show is a masterclass in restraint — in how exposure, tone and empty space can carry meaning without narrative.
• Ceramics lovers: the moon jar photographs are among the most sensitive images of Korean porcelain made by any artist.

Visiting information

Galería Blanca Berlín, Calle del Limón 28, 28015 Madrid. 24 October 2026 – 9 January 2027; the opening is listed for Saturday 24 October at 12:00. Hours: Wednesday–Saturday 12:00–15:00 and 16:30–20:00; closed Sunday to Tuesday and public holidays (please confirm before visiting). Phone +34 91 542 93 13, email [email protected]. See the official exhibition page, our Latidos invisibles listing, and Upcoming Art Exhibitions in Leading Galleries.