To be a part of BTS’ ARMY fandom is to go on a journey

removing your own barriers and the band reward you for doing
so by exposing you to new worlds and ideas to explore and
grow from. The seven-piece themselves are curious voyagers
and wide-eyed students of Earth, and they share the fruits of
their studies in their songs, music videos, and social media. On
their last album, 2019’s ‘Map Of The Soul: Persona’, they
encouraged their fanbase to read up on Carl Jung’s theories of
psychology and geek out on Greek mythology, while, in the
past, songs like ‘Magic Shop’ and 2016 album ‘Wings’ have
sent their followers off into the vast world of literature.

The band have already shared their love of art with their fans
through social media posts from exhibitions, filmed moments
like V’s gallery excursion in the latest season of their travel
reality show Bon Voyage, and in references to the likes of
Basquiat and Anish Kapoor in the video for their latest
comeback trailer, ‘Interlude: Shadow’. Now, Connect, BTS – a
global art project involving 22 artists across five cities that
launched in London today (January 14) – turns those glimpses
into something much bigger that will, as the name suggests,
connect the band’s passion not just with ARMY’s but with other
art lovers across the world with no knowledge of BTS required.
It’s yet another barrier broken down.
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“[BTS’] ability to speak meaningfully to people of different

cultural backgrounds, social classes, ethnicities, genders, and
identities speaks in turn to modern art’s long-standing goal to
transcend imagined boundaries, breaking through, creating new
expressive space,” says curator Daehyung Lee in a statement
on the new project. For the artists and other curators involved,
one of the benefits they hope to stem from Connect, BTS is
about reclaiming art from the world of high-end galleries. To that
end, the first piece unveiled in the series – Danish artist Jakob
Kudsk Steensen’s Catharsis – is on display at London’s
Serpentine Gallery but can also be experienced globally online.

Panels of ‘Catharsis’ CREDIT: Jakob Kudsk Steensen

“It really felt like a watershed moment,” the Serpentine’s Chief
Technology Officer Ben Vickers tells NME as audio burbles and
rushes of Catharsis echo through the venue. “In the art world, a
lot of people have lost faith in the ability of art to change the
world so it’s quite magical to have it reinvigorated in this way.”

Vickers was already a fan of BTS before the opportunity to be

involved in Connect came about, saying he began to listen to
them after learning they were using Jung’s ideas. “The idea that
you can mobilise millions of people to think about their mental
health – art has been trying to do things like that for a long
time,” he says. “It wants to have that social impact so this opens
up a lot of amazing possibilities. There are a lot of things that
are embedded in artistic discourse that only get exposed to a
small group of people but could be really revolutionary.”

The pieces set to be displayed as part of Connect, BTS are

thought-provoking and show that art still has the potential to
change the world. Catharsis immerses viewers in a digital
simulation of a redwood forest, mixed with North American
forests – “An imaginary world that looks real,” according to artist
Steensen. Using a single continuous shot, it highlights the
beauty of untouched nature and serves as a warning of what
could be lost. In a video only accessible at the Serpentine, BTS’
Jin asks “Were you able to find the pure, unadulterated beauty
within yourself?”, a subtle reference to the band’s ‘Love
Yourself’ message.
‘Aerocene Pachae’ CREDIT: Studio Tomás Saraceno, © 2015
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