The unicorn belongs to no single culture. Across the Arab world, medieval Europe, Ancient Rus and East Asia, people independently imagined a rare, single-horned creature—and sought proof it existed. Perhaps we want to believe in something elusive and capable of saving us.

Trends shift faster than we can form our own taste. Feeds and algorithms tell us what to want, what is rare and what to aspire to own—often before we ask whether we want it. The ancient myth of a creature that cannot be seized by force, only approached with sincerity, offers a tool for self-examination. Before a work of art, we might ask: Is this really mine, or have I seen it so often that I believe I want it?

Each of us creates our own unicorn. Are we searching for something truly ours, or pursuing what we have been taught to desire?

This is the boundary the exhibition explores. Three artists offer distinct ways of searching for the karkadann, the legendary creature behind the unicorn myth.


Marina Baisel: The Search and the Possession
When desire becomes possession, does possession satisfy desire?
Creation transforms materials, giving them new meaning and value. Baisel’s unicorn is an object of desire: something we seek, transform and try to make our own.


Lee Chunkook: The Real and the Imagined
What is real—and what do we project onto it?
Lee creates hybrid ornamental sculptures and panels whose growing, mutating forms hover between recognition and invention. His unicorn exists between what we see and what we believe we see.


Tatiana Chursina: The Personal and the Imposed
Is this what I want—or what I have been taught to want?
Chursina’s introspective abstract paintings leave narrative behind, inviting viewers to interpret. For her, each of us constructs our own unicorn.


The unicorn changes across eras; the hunt endures. Our need to keep searching may matter more than what we find.


What is your unicorn?