Installation view of artist trio ikkibawiKrrr's solo exhibition, "Rocks Living in Rewind," at Art Sonje Center in central Seoul / Courtesy of Art Sonje Center

In Buddhism, Maitreya is a bodhisattva prophesied to descend to Earth in the distant future, bringing the rebirth of Buddhism and guiding the unenlightened toward redemption. Some believe his arrival will occur 5.67 billion years after the passing of Sakyamuni Buddha in the 5th century BCE.

Naturally, the religious figure has long been synonymous with hope and the promise of a better future.

In Korea, Maitreya deeply resonated with the people, offering a glimmer of solace to those weary of harsh realities. Embraced by both Buddhist and folk traditions, he became a guardian deity of communities and everyday life. Countless stone sculptures of the bodhisattva were carved near temples and village entrances.

Over the centuries, however, the sweeping tides of modernization swept away much of this devotion. Many stone figures were destroyed or forgotten, left to weather the ravages of time. The surviving ones now stand as fractured, moss-covered relics — fading reminders of a bygone era of faith and hope.

Installation view of ikkibawiKrrr's solo exhibition, "Rocks Living in Rewind," at Art Sonje Center / Courtesy of Art Sonje Center

These forgotten Maitreyas, found near dilapidated sheds, deserted schools and greenhouses, or in the middle of overgrown fields, are at the heart of the artist trio ikkibawiKrrr's ongoing solo exhibition, “Rocks Living in Rewind,” at Art Sonje Center in central Seoul.

The trio, consisting of Ko Gyeol, Kim Jung-won and Cho Ji-eun, is a visual research collective with its name created by combining the Korean words for "moss" (ikki) and "rock" (bawi) with the onomatopoeic sound "krrr."

Because these sculptures were rarely documented in official records, the trio spent a year visiting over 60 sites across Korea, piecing together their locations through fragments of local memories and oral testimonies.

When they finally stood before the stone figures, the artists were struck by a profound irony: human abandonment, which had left these sculptures neglected, was what had paradoxically shielded them from destruction.

“The places where Maitreya statues remain are those largely untouched by human hands and urban development,” said Cho of ikkibawiKrrr during a recent press preview. “Seeing how human neglect, in a way, gave these statues a new vitality made me reflect on the world we live in today.”

“Do we, too, need to abandon ourselves and our current ways in order to truly come alive?”

For the trio, Maitreya serves as a medium for exploring how to forge new relationships with the earth that proceed in sync with the grander rhythms of nature, rather than the frantic micro-speed of modernity.

Installation view of ikkibawiKrrr's solo exhibition, "Rocks Living in Rewind," at Art Sonje Center / Courtesy of Art Sonje Center

Their Seoul show opens with “Buddha High Five,” a cement replica of a missing hand from an abandoned Maitreya statue. It is only after visitors engage in brief yet physical contact with the bodhisattva's palm that their journey through the exhibit truly begins.

The mammoth Buddhist stone remnants are brought to life in creative forms in “Rocks Living in Rewind.” One appears as a life-size duplicate of a statue discovered in the middle of a rice paddy in North Jeolla Province's Imsil County. Another takes shape through textured frottage (pencil rubbing) drawings of its individual body parts. A third is captured in a surreal film, standing pensively amid dancing piles of garbage.

ikkibawiKrrr's two-channel video, "Rocks Living in Rewind" (2024) / Courtesy of Art Sonje Center

The exhibition's titular centerpiece is a two-channel video that traces ikkibawiKrrr's yearlong search for Maitreya, blending quick montages with pulsating music.

Gazing at the sculptures, now surrounded by ruins and decay, Cho noted that this must have been the scenery that Maitreya witnessed in silence over a millennia.

“In East Asia, ‘sansu' — the landscapes of mountains and waters — have always been central. But now, we see garbage piled up like a mountain. Does that mean today's ‘sansu' is composed of waste? It's a video layered with many ideas,” she added.

Through the ancient statues of the future Buddha, the show invites viewers to take a step back and rethink our limited perception of the passage of time.

“Rocks Living in Rewind” runs through Jan. 26, 2025, at Art Sonje Center.