ART PILGRIMAGE SEOUL
Throughout the first half of the twentieth Art too changed, moving towards a which are the major art fairs such as FIAC,
century, that father was Japan, or Europe pluralism of styles and media, facilitated by Basel, the Armory Show and Frieze, where
through the mediating filter of Japan; during the frequent international contacts. The avenues Korean artists meet global trends as well as sell
second half it was Europe and the US. The that have brought Korean art together with their their own. For contemporary artists baptised in
result was the production of a different kind of foreign peers have been large-scale the discourse of hybridity and appropriation
contemporary art history, one that diverged international art exhibitions such as the Venice rather than in the myth of originality, the tag
from both the history of Western Modernism, Biennale, in which Korean artists have ‘made in Korea’ no longer has any credibility as
which sought to position the other as an object participated since 1986. In 1993 the Whitney a means of validating their artworks. Free from
of use and development, and from that of Biennial travelled to Korea. Venues for cultural the obsession of making what is known as
Japan, which calibrated its own identity mixing in Korea include the Gwangju Biennale, ‘Korean’ contemporary art, these artists perceive
according to a hierarchy that elevated the begun in 1995, joined later by the Busan nationalism as only one type of discourse, not as
West while concurrently positioning other Biennale and Media City Seoul. Contributing an objective or a conviction. When Choi
Asian nation-states as its subordinates. This to this mixing were mainstream museums, like Jeong-hwa made Third World kitsch out of a
‘difference’ is, in fact, where the identity of the National Museum of Contemporary Art, tower of plastic bowls, it was not from love of
contemporary Korean art can be found. which moved to, and expanded in, Gwacheon in country, as it would had been for artists from
After the late 1980s, different and diverse 1986, the Ho-Am Gallery (now the Samsung previous generations, but to subvert the
elements came together to produce what is Museum Leeum) and the Artsonje Center; ubiquity of consumer capitalism. Or when Suh
known as pluralism. Within the artworld this diverse exhibition spaces like Pool, Project Do-ho constructed a traditional Korean tile-
change followed in the footsteps of the Space Sarubia and Ssamzie Art Space; and roofed house out of thin summer silk, it was not
stabilisation of early 1980s political chaos, the commercial galleries, which have proliferated at to represent his nationality but rather to discuss
transition from a military to a civil government a rapid rate. The phenomenon of an exhibition the malleability of such an identity (at least
and the gradual collapse of the antagonisms boom resulting from the proliferation of venues, according to the artist, even if the viewer might
between the left and right. In a late capitalist era along with the expansion of arts journalism insist on viewing the work through Orientalist
that saw the Korean economy shift its base from intended to cover the increasing number of lenses). Korean artists also prove the existence
production to consumption, diverse values co- exhibitions in a timely manner, allowed diverse of what is described as a decentred era, in which
existed with each other in the turn to what is trends to freely confer with one another. the plurality and fluidity of centres is
described as a postmodern age. In this situation, Here the additional rise of the Internet acknowledged. As in Kimsooja’s video journeys,
Korea’s international relations were seen as generated numerous progressive assimilations the artist is revealed within the system of
complex and fluid, unable to be consolidated by simultaneously connecting Korean art with relationships comprising the intersection
into a unified whole. An age had arrived in art hailing from other parts of the world. between the self and the other. Korean art,
which Korean accusations of Japanese historical This phenomenon of mixing taking place which for ten years followed Modernism’s
revisionism co-existed with signs written in within art is another version of the ‘New discourse, has now become the scene of action
Japanese, people eating at McDonald’s and Generation’ (sinsedae) culture that took the and an exemplar of postmodern art, a shift
anti-American candlelight vigils. In particular, lead in Korea after the 1990s. New Generation brought about by nothing less than the
Korea’s international position changed after it sensibilities, which rejected vertical hierarchy discourse of postmodernism itself.
hosted the 1988 Olympics; to see actor Bae and categorical distinctions, traversed the The discourses of postcolonialism,
Yongjun ride the ‘Korean wave’ to Japan (where world’s cultures while enabling Korean culture multiculturalism, global/glocalism, nomadism
he is known as Yon-sama) or Samsung to partake of the same. A time had come, one in and so on channelled attention towards
advertising billboards in the streets of New York which New Generation monks committed New diverse peripheries, one of which was Korea.
was by then a familiar sight. As a result, the loud Age chants to memory, and which celebrated From the Korean viewpoint, the problems of
cheers of ‘Great-Korea’ (‘Taehan min’guk’) heard New Generation exhibitions featuring the internationalism and identity, as well as
during the 2002 World Cup were of a different crossover prowess of artists. Examples include universality and specificity, were consequently
nature. Although the uniform red of the fans’ the biannual Art Spectrum at Leeum, or the not relationships of tension but two sides of the
shirts and other paraphernalia still retained Young Korean Artists show held at the National same coin. Chasing the outside does not lead
something of a totalitarian tone, the Korean fans Museum of Contemporary Art. Characterised to a loss of the self, but in fact leads to its
no longer thought of themselves as a minority. by lateral diversity and the hybridity of this discovery, and in so doing, forms the discursive
Accordingly, the voices of the fans were diversity, shows like these, however, only basis upon which the culture of the other can be
not directed towards the inside, but embraced reaffirmed the sentiments inherent in art actively translated and borrowed ‘without guilt’.
the outside. ‘My’ image is seen through historian Rosalind Krauss’s dig at postmodern It is the reason why the works of Lee Bul, which
an expanded mirror that encompasses the museums (‘the discovery of the museum as a cross Japanese anime and karaoke with
exchange between myself and another. flea market’). These exhibitions were huge American pop songs, have been successful
It indicates the arrival of an era of multiple markets based on the endless trade of styles in the Korean and international artworlds.
identities, one in which a Dutchman like and forms; that is, on the logic of commodities.
Guus Hiddink can be the coach of the Korean Artists produced objects for sale in the Translated from the Korean by Joan J. Kee.
soccer team, where Park Chan-ho can be an art market by openly branding themselves and This text is an extract from the catalogue that
‘American’ baseball player and where their works, or by collecting images from here accompanies the exhibition Elastic Taboos:
professional football player Hines Ward (who is and there, then arranging and rearranging their Within the Korean World of Contemporary
half-African-American and half-Korean) is seen design. The art market that had once stayed Art, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, 23 February –
as both American and Korean. hidden rose to the surface, the symptoms of 10 June, www.kunsthallewien.at
nine.linnine.lin ARTREVIEW
p 96-103 Pilgrimage Seoul AR May99 99 6/4/07 02:59:44
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