On the morning of Friday, February 27, 100 Collectors gathered at Artverse in Paris for a private breakfast and early preview of The Tension That Holds, the first European solo exhibition by Genesis Kai.

Organized exclusively for our members, the visit offered the opportunity to experience the exhibition several hours before the official opening to the public. Collectors were personally guided through the show by the artist together with curator Valentina Buzzi, who introduced the conceptual framework of the project and shared insights into the works developed specifically for the Parisian space.

The exhibition unfolds across prints on traditional Korean hanji paper, moving images, and installations. On the ground floor, crimson-saturated landscapes depict figures reading, gathering, and conversing, presented alongside rare Korean antiquities from the artist’s grandfather’s collection, establishing a dialogue between contemporary practice, lineage, and heritage.

In the basement, the exhibition becomes immersive. A series of video works developed through Kai’s dialogue with artificial intelligence unfold across digital screens, accompanied by a soundscape composed from recordings made in Korean temples. Within this environment, AI operates not as a simple tool, but as an expanded perceptual field.

At the core of the exhibition lies Kai’s philosophical framework, Pothosophy, a meditation on desire as a structuring force of reality, inspired by both ancient Greek thought and Neo-Confucian philosophy.

Encounters like this are at the heart of the 100 Collectors program: creating moments of direct dialogue with artists and curators, and offering collectors early access to new works and ideas as they emerge.

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