AN ARTIST
A PLATFORM
ROOTED IN
PLACE
SHAPED BY
RELATION
AN ARTIST
A PLATFORM
ROOTED IN
PLACE
SHAPED BY
RELATION
Adrian Dongmin Choi is an artist working across place, material, ecology, and public life.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I am interested in how art can reopen connections between human and nature, place and memory, sensation and relation. My work begins not from a single message, but from traces already present in the living world — the shifting surfaces of water and land, marks left in a fishing village, the place where a species is disappearing, the expressions on people's faces, and the rhythms of their lives. These are not subjects to represent, but clues that set a process in motion.
Climate and ecological questions enter this practice not as slogans, but as part of a larger inquiry into beauty, fragility, and how we might live together with greater care. I think of art not as an immediate answer, but as a subtle force that can shift perception, alter relation, and open more attentive ways of living together.
SHORT BIO
Adrian Dongmin Choi began his artistic practice in theater in 2007, following an earlier career in IT engineering. Based in Busan, South Korea, he has developed his practice through experimental arts work in Jeju, international dance and performing arts markets, and cross-border collaboration. He has built a cross-disciplinary practice spanning performance art, visual art, text, research, and community collaboration, shaped by sustained engagement with ecology and climate. His work has been presented at six consecutive UN Climate Change Conferences.
AN UNUSUAL PATH
IT Engineering
Earlier training in systems, networks, and technical thinking shaped the structural and collaborative side of the work.
Pre-2007
systems
IT Engineering
Earlier training in systems, networks, and technical thinking shaped the structural and collaborative side of the work.
Pre-2007
systems
IT Engineering
Earlier training in systems, networks, and technical thinking shaped the structural and collaborative side of the work.
systems
Theater & Performance
Artistic practice began in theater, building an understanding of live presence, collective process, and performance-based thinking.
2007–2013
live
Theater & Performance
Artistic practice began in theater, building an understanding of live presence, collective process, and performance-based thinking.
2007–2013
live
Theater & Performance
Artistic practice began in theater, building an understanding of live presence, collective process, and performance-based thinking.
live
Experimental Arts
Work in Jeju expanded the practice beyond stage form into process, site, and interdisciplinary experimentation.
2014
experimental
Experimental Arts
Work in Jeju expanded the practice beyond stage form into process, site, and interdisciplinary experimentation.
2014
experimental
Experimental Arts
Work in Jeju expanded the practice beyond stage form into process, site, and interdisciplinary experimentation.
experimental
International Platforms
International dance and performing arts platforms developed a cross-border perspective and collaborative sensibility.
2015–2018
cross-border
International Platforms
International dance and performing arts platforms developed a cross-border perspective and collaborative sensibility.
2015–2018
cross-border
International Platforms
International dance and performing arts platforms developed a cross-border perspective and collaborative sensibility.
cross-border
Eco Action Forest
A long-term artist-led platform connecting ecology, place, material, and public life through site-responsive projects.
2013–present
platform
Eco Action Forest
A long-term artist-led platform connecting ecology, place, material, and public life through site-responsive projects.
2013–present
platform
Eco Action Forest
A long-term artist-led platform connecting ecology, place, material, and public life through site-responsive projects.
platform
Green Wave Co., Ltd.
Applied ecological practice extended into climate, ESG, circular economy, and cross-sector collaboration.
2020–2026
applied
Green Wave Co., Ltd.
Applied ecological practice extended into climate, ESG, circular economy, and cross-sector collaboration.
2020–2026
applied
Green Wave Co., Ltd.
Applied ecological practice extended into climate, ESG, circular economy, and cross-sector collaboration.
applied
Next Chapter
Busan ↔ United States. Expanding practice across art, sustainability, and education.
2026–
expansion
Next Chapter
Busan ↔ United States. Expanding practice across art, sustainability, and education.
2026–
expansion
Next Chapter
Busan ↔ United States. Expanding practice across art, sustainability, and education.
expansion
ECO ACTION FOREST
ABOUT
Eco Action Forest is an artist-led platform founded by Adrian Dongmin Choi, rooted in the vision of Environment × Human × Art. Working across performance, visual art, research, education, and community-based collaboration, it develops multidisciplinary projects that begin in everyday environments — cities, villages, coastlines, and the places where ecological and human life meet. Rather than approaching environmental questions as abstract issues, Eco Action Forest works through lived environments, shared processes, and artistic experimentation.
ABOUT
Eco Action Forest is an artist-led platform founded by Adrian Dongmin Choi, rooted in the vision of Environment × Human × Art. Working across performance, visual art, research, education, and community-based collaboration, it develops multidisciplinary projects that begin in everyday environments — cities, villages, coastlines, and the places where ecological and human life meet. Rather than approaching environmental questions as abstract issues, Eco Action Forest works through lived environments, shared processes, and artistic experimentation.
MISSION
To translate the materials, traces, and relationships of the living world into artistic experience — creating moments in which people sense, observe, and think together about the world they inhabit. Not to deliver messages, but to make space for renewed attention and connection.
MISSION
To translate the materials, traces, and relationships of the living world into artistic experience — creating moments in which people sense, observe, and think together about the world they inhabit. Not to deliver messages, but to make space for renewed attention and connection.
VISION
A world in which the sense of connection between human life, natural life, and the more-than-human world remains alive in everyday experience. Eco Action Forest works toward that recovery through art: slowly, concretely, and with care.
VISION
A world in which the sense of connection between human life, natural life, and the more-than-human world remains alive in everyday experience. Eco Action Forest works toward that recovery through art: slowly, concretely, and with care.
WORKING PRINCIPLES
Process — We center the time of making over the finished object. Research, collection, transformation, and collective action are all part of the work.
WORKING PRINCIPLES
Process — We center the time of making over the finished object. Research, collection, transformation, and collective action are all part of the work.
Site — We work in lived environments rather than isolated studio conditions. Cities, villages, riversides, markets, and coastlines are not backdrops, but active conditions of the work.
Site — We work in lived environments rather than isolated studio conditions. Cities, villages, riversides, markets, and coastlines are not backdrops, but active conditions of the work.
Collaboration — We build work that cannot be made alone. Artists, residents, researchers, educators, and technical collaborators often meet within the same project.
Collaboration — We build work that cannot be made alone. Artists, residents, researchers, educators, and technical collaborators often meet within the same project.
HISTORY
2013–2014 — Beginnings: Founded under the name Project GR in 2013 and formally established in 2014, the practice began in Busan as an interdisciplinary platform connecting environment, human experience, and art.
HISTORY
2013–2014 — Beginnings: Founded under the name Project GR in 2013 and formally established in 2014, the practice began in Busan as an interdisciplinary platform connecting environment, human experience, and art.
2015–2019 — ECO ART Series: Supported annually by the Busan Cultural Foundation, the ECO ART Series developed sustained site-responsive projects across Busan's stations, markets, riversides, neighborhoods, and coastal areas — in collaboration with artists from the UK, France, and Hong Kong, and presented at UN COP24 and COP25. In 2019, the platform was renamed Eco Action Forest.
2015–2019 — ECO ART Series: Supported annually by the Busan Cultural Foundation, the ECO ART Series developed sustained site-responsive projects across Busan's stations, markets, riversides, neighborhoods, and coastal areas — in collaboration with artists from the UK, France, and Hong Kong, and presented at UN COP24 and COP25. In 2019, the platform was renamed Eco Action Forest.
2020–2023 — Transition and Expansion: The practice expanded across online, publishing, and international platforms. This period included the publication of We Are Serious About Climate Change and recognition with the Arts Management Award from the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea.
2020–2023 — Transition and Expansion: The practice expanded across online, publishing, and international platforms. This period included the publication of We Are Serious About Climate Change and recognition with the Arts Management Award from the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea.
2024–Present — Coastal and International Practice: Recent work deepens coastal research and material translation — and expands toward international collaboration.
2024–Present — Coastal and International Practice: Recent work deepens coastal research and material translation — and expands toward international collaboration.
WORKING LOGIC
01
Place
Each project begins with a specific site, its ecology, memory, and local conditions.
01
Place
Each project begins with a specific site, its ecology, memory, and local conditions.
02
Material
Materials are not neutral tools but carriers of time, labor, and relation.
02
Material
Materials are not neutral tools but carriers of time, labor, and relation.
03
Translation
The work translates traces into image, paper, pigment, text, performance, or public form.
03
Translation
The work translates traces into image, paper, pigment, text, performance, or public form.
04
Public Life
Art becomes meaningful when it re-enters shared space, conversation, and action.
04
Public Life
Art becomes meaningful when it re-enters shared space, conversation, and action.