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2011_04_06

Return of the pLayfulaesthetic kings_ Jack-of-all-trades: Korean

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Historical Conceptual Art 1970-80s

Three Ways to
Commemorate Nam June

<Jack of All Trades> exhibition presents a series of experimental Korean Historical Conceptual Artworks

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Seoul City Wall Visitor

history by reinterpreting it in a modern sense. This exhibition features artworks of eight conceptual artists

Pavilion

Kun-yong and Hong Myung-seop. Although the members of the Korean historical avant-garde are

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from the 1970-80s which is considered one of the most complicated art forms in Korean contemporary art
such as Kwak Duck-jun, Kim Ku-lim, Kim Yong-ik, Park Hyun-ki, Sung Neung-kyung, Lee Kang-so, Lee

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ART & DESIGN

Art and Its Permeation into

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Urban Space

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approaching old age today, their works are the manifestation of essential modernism of Korean
contemporary art.

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An Incomplete Beauty
Kyungah Ham: Phantom
Footsteps
Roof Sentiment
Yeseung Lee: A Question
Posed in Between Inside
and Outside
Seulgi Lee: Dreams of a
Transforming Object
Noise Scavenging:
Disrupting the Invisible
Historical Space
Yunchul Kim: A Search for
the Disposition of the
Material
Archipelago
A Needle Woman: Galaxy
was a Memory, Earth is a
Souvenir
Architectural Space that
Corresponds to an Old

Exhibition installation views at Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, 2010


Modernism can be regarded as an attempt to clarify the fundamental nature of art through self-criticism.
Historically, modernism has been driven by two conflicting aspects. One of these aspects was the spirit to

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pursue novelty; the other was a form to materialize the novelty in a visible form. The spirit of modernism

A Place Constructed with

and materialized form in the Korean contemporary art history had remained in equilibrium between the late

7000 Pieces

1950s and early 1960s. The thriving avant-garde spirit in the wake of the tragic Korean War found its own

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territory through the so-called abstract form.

International Congress
Seoul Pavilion

However, this equilibrium failed to last for long. The abstract turned into a kind of back guard and the spirit
became stranded within the sturdy boundary created by the guard. In this regard, the artworks of the eight
artists in this exhibition are meaningful since they attempted to break through the doldrums. Playing the

Morphing Sounds

pivotal role to enlighten awareness, they conducted a variety of experiments to escape the influence of

Mise en Sc&egrave;ne of

senior modernists. Their artworks demonstrate a deviation that cannot be confined by the aesthetic

Art, Him, and I

horizons of abstract art. Kim Yong-ik shows a parcel performance, just like a Fluxus artist does, while Kwak

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Duck-jun questions his identity as a stranger in the performance by rubbing his face on the cracked

the Materials of Our Times

transparent glass. Also, Hong Myung-seops aesthetical amusement opened up the possibility for new art

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Zimoun: Resonating Space,

Essays About Things

19.06.16 18:09

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The Spectrum across

criticism.

Korean Contemporary Art

Their artworks represent diversity that rejects any type of formalization, however, these words show a kind

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of similarity in a certain element. That is their aesthetic methods to pursue novelty are thoroughly based on

Filament Mind

epistemology. Of course, this method is somewhat expectable as the eight artists are referred to as
Conceptual Artists. But, what is more important is that their epistemological methods are intended to

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divide and reorganize the surroundings through conceptual theory. This exhibition is deserved to be

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remembered for a long time due to its different perspectives.

Onejoon: Standing At the


Crossroads of Histories

However, some elements should be carefully taken into consideration. First, there is lack of artistic

Vertigo

assessment on the modern implication of Korean Historical Conceptual Art from the 1970-80s. In order not
to dismiss the conceptual art as a product of the past in Korean contemporary art, we need to accompany

Something Behind

the evaluation of its influence on Korean art. This is especially important because their works served as a

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starting point for much more radical aesthetic experiments in the 1980s. Additionally, part of this art tried to

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connect with folk art, which is another aesthetic mainstream in our long art history. In particular, the
conceptual realism, which was the talk of the town in the Post Folk Art discussion, can be considered as

Principles of Motion

the results of interrelation between conceptual art and folk art given that it accompanies criticism on the
reality from an epistemological perspective. Second, the element is associated with the approach toward
conceptual art from the exhibition engineering level. As it is known, the conceptual art values flexible flow of
awareness, variable meanings and transient behaviors. Therefore, the method to embody the artistic
concept through artistic forms for the exhibition should be differentiated with the way to consecutively
display either paintings or sculptures.
Written by Kim Dong-il Research professor of Institute of Social Sciences at Sogang University

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no.521 (2011.April)

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