CICC Statement on the Partnership between Centre Pompidou and the Hanwha Group

Palestine solidarity action against Hanwha Pompidou, Seoul. Photo credit: Hong Jiyoung (W/O F.)

CICC Statement on the Partnership between Centre Pompidou and the Hanwha Group

Artists and activists gathered in Seoul in solidarity to protest the partnership between Centre Pompidou and Hanwha Group. Among the placards were images from Jonas Staal and Radha D’Souza’s 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝐶𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝐶𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 (CICC), each displaying different ‘comrades’ – portraits of non-human ancestors representing a fraction of the species extinction caused by human activities within systems of settler colonialism and capitalism.

Hanwha Group has expanded globally as part of South Korea’s growing arms-export sector and has partnered with Israeli defence firms Elbit Systems and Elta Systems, thereby enabling the ongoing genocide in Palestine.

Hanwha’s role in large-scale militarisation and heavy industry is directly implicated in high carbon emissions and ecological destruction: genocide goes hand in hand with ecocide. This was the central subject of 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝐶𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝐶𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠: 𝐸𝑥𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑊𝑎𝑟𝑠, a series of public hearings and exhibition at the 2023 Gwangju Biennale at the Gwangju Art Museum, co-produced by Framer Framed. The project was developed in close collaboration with various social movements and activist organisations who presented evidence on climate crimes committed by the Korean state and corporate actors, including Hanwha, and was shaped by their research, testimonies and demands for accountability.

Together with CICC co-founders Jonas Staal and Radha D’Souza, we support the statement concerning the partnership between Centre Pompidou and Hanwha Group. We stand firmly with those resisting the military-industrial complex and its dangers to peoples and ecosystems, and against the militarisation of arts and culture.