Nakseonjae, set like a painting within the grounds, is a place of deep significance as the last residence of the Joseon royal family. Here, an exceptionally restrained and understated palace-house style reveals an unadorned simplicity, while diverse decorative patterns coexist within a single space. The protruding numaru pavilion, the circular manwollu, and the terraced flower beds (hwagye, 花階) where blossoms and stones form layered tiers—nature permeates the boundaries of these spaces, and the sky seems to descend beyond the columns.

When an old system draws its curtain and the moment of crossing into a new era arrives, the bodies of a weeping time remained here. Those who once had to leave the palace returned after a long path, stepped into this courtyard again, and walked between these columns. And now, new bodies enter this space. These bodies, with no distinction between yesterday, today, and tomorrow, create a scene where the real and the imagined intersect. What a dream envisions is a world without borders, and it makes the unseen visible. Movement surpasses the boundaries of space, crosses with the wind, and lingers in the sky. Even if dance leaves its place, even if we awaken from a dream, we cannot know on which side we stand.

At Nakseonjae, choreographer Ahn Aesoon meets the emerging Italian choreographic duo FRITZ COMPANY—Damiano O. Bigi and Alessandra Paoletti. In this place where time layers upon layers within a quiet beauty, those who have gathered along their own cultural trajectories take Nakseonjae as a physical memory and weave a language of movement. An artistic exchange and a story that crosses borders begins.

Commemorating the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and Italy (2024–25), this jointly produced work by Fabbrica Europa and Ahn Aesoon Company brings the distinctive architectural aesthetics of each country into dialogue. Korean traditional architecture, breathing with nature through proportion and open space, and Italian Renaissance architecture, realizing harmony through symmetry and balance—two cultures with different traditions meet at Nakseonjae. In this setting, where the open courtyard continues into the rear courtyard and sightlines flow between columns, bodies cross boundaries and begin a conversation. The body becomes both a passage and a question, and the site becomes a place to explore existence beyond form.

* Beginning at Nakseonjae in October 2025, this work travels to Italy in June 2026. The dialogue continues across three historical sites: Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea in Verbania, the Cloister of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, and Parco Neroli in Cagliari. Prior to this, in September 2025, research by Damiano O. Bigi and Alessandra Paoletti was conducted at the Cloister of Santa Maria Novella, following their residency at the Orsanmichele church in Florence.