Joungki, Park Junebum, Park Jieun, Shin Meekyoung, Yoo Hyunmi, Lee Sangjun, Yeesookyung, Lee Seulgi, Lee Jaii, Lee Hyungkoo, Jeong Soyoun, Ham Kyungah, and Sasa [44]. They are joined by eight international artists: Dan Kwong, Dave Southwood, Lachezar Boyadjiev, Beate Engl, Brendan Fernandes, Wael...
Xooang, Han Kichang, and Ham Yeonju (Art Museum Project); Kim Kyoungwon, Kim Yun-soo, Kim Jimin, Kim Taejoon, LiilLiil, Park Yongseok, Park Jaeyoung, Shin Sangho, Shin Jungpil, An Jungju, Ahn Kyuchul, Ahn Sang-Soo, Yang Jinwoo, Won Dayeon, Yun Suknam, Yoo Youngho, Lee Yongbaek, Lim Oksang, Chung Hyu...
Sindang Art Arcade (basement of Jungang Market, Seoul, October 16) opens as a craft and design-focused residency space under the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture. The space consists of thirty-five studios created by remodeling vacant shops, along with shared workshops. Centered on craft and...
Incheon Art Platform (Incheon, September 25.) opens, established by the Incheon Foundation for Arts and Culture. Directed by Choi Seunghoon, the complex cultural and artistic space is created by renovating warehouses and modern architectural structures from the port-opening period. It includes...
Platform Seoul 2009 Platform in Kimusa (Art Sonje Center and Kimusa, the former Defense Security Command site, Seoul, September 3–25) is held. The project seeks to narrow the gap between art and life and to expand the meaning of public art into architectural projects. Site-specific...
Platform Seoul 2008 I Have Nothing to Say and I Am Saying It (Art Sonje Center, the former Seoul Station, and galleries across Jongno-gu, Seoul, October 25–November 23) is held across twelve venues. Taking its title from a statement by John Cage, the exhibition presents works that...
B-Side (DoArt Seoul, Seoul, September 3–22), curated by Kim Sungwon, is held. A total of twenty-two artists participate, including Kang Hong-goo, Kim Sanggon, Toh Yunhee, Moon Hyungmin, Park MeeNa, Park Jina, Sasa[44], Sunny Kim, Lee Mikyeong, Lee Mihye, Lee Dongi, Yeesookyung, Lee...
Platform Seoul 2006 Somewhere in Time (Art Sonje Center, Seoul, December 4, 2006–April 1, 2007) is held. Under the theme of the relationship between society and art, nineteen Korean and international artists participate, including Koh Sankeum, Kim Beom, Kim Sora, Kim Youngeun, Kim...
The First Seoul International Photography Festival (Insadong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, September 13–26) is held. Chaired by Sung Wan-kyung, the festival consists of the main exhibition Ultra Sense, special exhibitions, and public programs. Thirty Korean and international artists participate,...
One Hundred Years of Namdo* Art: Tracing Its Roots (Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju, December 29–February 19, 2006) is held. Through more than one hundred forty works by thirty-seven artists who played major roles in the formation of modern and contemporary art in Gwangju and...
Seo Byeonggap, Sim Euntaek, Lee Namho, Lee Sanggil, Lee Younggyun, Lee Yongwoo, Lim Shin, Cho Jungtae, Chae Yongshin, Choi Seokhwan, Chu Gyoyoung, Hwang Seongha, and Hwang Jongha (Korean Painting); Ko Whahum, Kwon Youngsul, Kim Youngchang, Kim Yongbong, Kim Hyuncheol, Moon Yunmo, Park Byungsoo, So...
Young Korean Artists 2004 (National Museum of Contemporary Art, Gwacheon (now MMCA), November 24-January 23, 2005) is held. Featuring artists from Korea, China, and Japan, the exhibition explores artistic exchange and comparative perspectives across the three countries. A total of nineteen...
Jooho, Kim Chun-il, Group Oasis Project, Nam Kwan, Mun Beom, Min Joungki, Park Buldong, Bahc Yiso, Sung Neungkyung, Shin Hakchul, Ahn Changhong, Ahn Kyuchul, Oh Yoon, Oh Inhwan, Yook Keunbyung, Yoo Seungho, Yun Suknam, Lee Kangso, Lee Kun-Yong, Lee Seungha, Lee Seungtaek, Lee Ungno, Lee Joong Keun,...
Kim Chun-ok, Min Kyoungkap, Moon Bongsun, Bak Nosoo, Suh Seok, Song Soonam, Song Sooryun, Song Youngbang, Shin Youngsang, Shim Kyung-Ja, Oh Nangja, Oh YongKil, Won Moonja, Lee Kyungsoo, Lee Kyusun, Lee Sookja, Lee Walchong, Lee Cheoljoo, Lim Songhee, Chung Takyoung, Chung Hakyung, Cha Daeyoung, Ha...
The Goyang Art Studio of the National Museum of Contemporary Art (now Goyang Residency, Deogyang-gu, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi Province, April 29) opens. Established by the National Museum of Contemporary Art (now MMCA) as the second residency studio after Changdong Art Studio, it comprises twenty-three...
People Walking on the Water: Cheonggyecheon Project (Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, July 11–August 17) is held. The exhibition is organized to mark the Cheonggyecheon restoration project, and it presents themes of “Looking Back,” “Rediscovery,” and...
Suh Seungwon, Shin Sunghy, Shim Moon-seup, Youn Myeungro, Yoon Miran, Yun Hyongkeun, Lee Kangso, Lee Kun-Yong, Lee Dongyoub, Lee Bongreal, Lee Seungjio, Lee Ywanho, Lee Ufan, Lee Jeongji, Chung Kyungyeon, Chung Sanghwa, Jung Yungyul, Chung Changsup, Cho Yongik, Chin Ohcsun, Choi Myoungyoung, Choi...
The Korea Culture and Arts Foundation organizes The Eleventh New Generation Trend in Korean Contemporary Art: Paradise Among Us (Marronnier Art Center (former Misulhoegwan, now ARKO Art Center), Seoul, March 22-April 14). The exhibition explores relationships and communication between...
Young Korean Artists 2002 (National Museum of Contemporary Art, Gwacheon (now MMCA), March 14-May 5) is held. The exhibition spotlights the craft field—relatively marginalized in the fine art-centered art scene—and aims to discover young craft artists. It presents approximately...
Kimdaljin Art Research and Consulting opens in Pyeongchang-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul. It reorganizes Seoul Exhibition Guide, first published in 1996, and launches the monthly Seoul Art Guide in January 2002. In 2008, Kimdaljin Art Archive and Museum opens in Tongui-dong, Jongno-gu. The two...
The exhibition history of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) dates back to 1969, when the museum opened in the Gyeongbokgung Art Museum building to host the Eighteenth National Art Exhibition (Gukjeon). It began without a curatorial staff or even a single work in its...
The Birth of Artist of the Year When the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) launched its Artist of the Year program in 1995, the initiative represented more than the introduction of a new exhibition program. It was the result of institutional reform that the national...
Rural Korea The theme of this exhibition is “our countryside.” Over the past three decades, rural Korea has been weathering the rough waves of industrialization, urbanization, and globalization and undergoing a devastating collapse. Particularly since the 1980s, plummeting government...
I It has been 16 years since the exhibition of Artist of the Year started. The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea (now MMCA) had already been holding the Special Exhibition for Senior Artists and Artist of the Month.1 As part of the museum’s efforts to revamp both exhibitions, the...
Artist of the Year 2006 ― Chung Hyun Sculptor Chung Hyun has been selected as ‘Artist of the Year 2006.’ Established in 1995, the ‘Artist of the Year’ award is given annually to the artist who has shown the most outstanding activity in the Korean art world. Selected by...
Here, you see people. These people seem to be enduring their lives rather than enjoying them. The eyes of some of them do not have pupils so that their expressions are hard to read, but all of them have seemingly blank faces on the surface behind which the burning flames in each mind are gushing out...
In 2002, during the height of the World Cup frenzy, the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea (now MMCA) awarded Artist of the Year to its first architect, Seung H-Sang. Prior to this, the NMCA had drawn public attention through exhibitions such as Architect Kim Sooguen (1990), Ando Tadao...
Artist of the Year—Kwon Youngwoo An interest in our own and the pursuit for the new possess contrasting values, thus, seeking these goals simultaneously could be an excessive desire to grasp both at once. However, we, stepping on the threshold of the twenty-first century, encounter the...
1. Newly Emergent Artist Groups of 1957 and Collective Art Movements On April 9, 1957, the first exhibition of the Modern Art Association was held at the Donghwa Gallery. Founded with the stated aim of addressing “the problem of contemporary painting” and positioning itself as an...
within the movement. Other artists who, though not affiliated with the aforementioned collectives, have risen through individual activity include Shin Hakchul and Son Sangki. In his 1982 solo exhibition, Shin appropriated contemporary techniques such as photomontage and collage to depict fragments...
than by the atmosphere it generates. From the standpoint of “scraping” the woodblock, Park Young-geun’s technique initially calls Shin Jangsik’s to mind. Yet while Shin’s lines tend toward warmth and emotional resonance, Park’s are the product of a dynamic proce...
Lim Geun-jun (a.k.a. Lee Chungwoo) Contemporaneity and Generational Shifts in Korean Contemporary Art: 1987–20081, 2 When did contemporary art first emerge in South Korea, and when did the foundation for its driving force—contemporaneity—begin to take shape? Is it valid to adopt...
Seungjio, Kim Sooik, Shin Kiock, Choi Changhong, Lee Sangrak, and Ham Sup, consisted of painters belonging to the so-called “Generation of April 19 Revolution” and represented the cohort that directly succeeded the Informel generation. These artists shared, first and foremost,...
In the 1950s, the Korean art world witnessed the simultaneous emergence of exhibitions, lectures, and writings that explicitly foregrounded “contemporary art” (hyeondae misul). Never before had the term so thoroughly dominated artistic discourse or carried such weight of expectation....
In the 1980s, ‘contemporary art’ became routinized, circulating as an everyday term stripped of its earlier charge. Yet beyond the boundaries of official institutions, the term came under unprecedented critique. It came to designate the dominant tendencies of 1970s Korean art, which were...
The Gwangju Biennale articulated its position on the discourse of globalization that dominated the 1990s through its exhibitions which showcased a large number of multinational and multimedia works in the First edition (1995) and adopted a deconstructive approach in the Second edition (1997)....
major artists associated with the Minjung art movement, including Shin Hakchul, Min Joungki, and Choi Minhwa. This curatorial orientation was likewise reflected in the contemporary Korean art exhibitions organized by ARKO in which Beck participated while serving at both institutions. Beck Jee-sook...
(1927), to later works like Kim Whanki’s Rondo (1938) and Moon Shin’s Self-portrait (1943).3 It presented not only works produced before liberation but also contemporaneous pieces, offering a wide-ranging perspective on the historical trajectory of Korean art. It marked the beginning of...
chrysanthemum, and bamboo), still life, animal paintings, and figure painting. For example, the flower-and-bird section spans from Shin Myeong-Yeon’s Flower and Bird (nineteenth century) to Park Saengkwang’s Peony (1969); the landscape section from Heo Ryeon’s Landscape (1877) to...
The thematic focus of the first Gwangju Biennale—“the coexistence and harmony of humankind”—was, to a certain extent, overshadowed by the celebratory nature of its auxiliary programs, such as performances and marketplaces, rather than the exhibition itself. In response to...
The Gyeongbuk Art Exhibition was a group exhibition organized by the Gyeongbuk Culture Construction Federation [Gyeongbuk munhwa geonseol yeonmaeng] and held from March 1 to 10, 1946 at the Daegu Public Hall. A Gyeongbuk regional branch of the Central Committee for the Construction of...
The National Folk Museum of Korea is located within the precincts of Gyeongbokgung Palace on Samcheong-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul. Its predecessor was the National Museum of Ethnology (first director Song Seokha) established on November 8, 1945 at 2 Yejang-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul. In December 1950, it was...
The Korean Photography Alliance [Joseon sajin dongmaeng; KPA] was a leftist photography organization founded on June 13, 1947 at the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) Hall in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Kim Jinsu, Lee Tae-ung, Lee Yongmin, and twenty other promoters gathered, held a founding...
Hwang Jonggu (1919–2003) was a ceramist active from the second-half of the 1950s through the second-half of the 1990s. He was born as the son of the celadon master Hwang Inchun (1894–1950) in Seoul in 1919. He took a course at the annex of the Seto Institute of Ceramics in Japan in 1939....
Lee Seokho (1904-1971, pen name Ilgwan) learned Chinese classics and calligraphy at a young age and then studied painting under Kim Eunho. He received an honorable mention for his calligraphy at the sixth Joseon Art Exhibition [Joseon misul jeollamhoe] in 1927. He then made his presence known in...
Nature art refers to artistic activities where artists use natural objects or become a part of nature preferably in a desolate natural setting. The members of the YATOO Outdoor Field Art Research Association [Yaoe hyeonjang misul yeonguhoe; YATOO] founded in 1981 refused to present (exhibit) their...
The Seoul Print Art Fair was an international art fair held ten times from 1995 to 2004 by the Korean Print Art Promotion Association [Hanguk panhwa misul jinheunghoe]. Founded in 1995, the Korean Print Art Promotion Association hosted the fair in an effort to revitalize Korean print art...
the pertinent symposium, Shin Jangsik presented on “Traditional Korean Prints,” Yoon Dongchun, “The Development and Prospects of Contemporary Korean Prints,” You Hongjune, “The Outcomes and Meanings of the Woodblock Print Movement in the 1980s,” and Hwang Yongjin,...
The Modern Korean Art Exhibition was organized by the National Museum of Modern Art, Korea (now MMCA) from 1974 through 1978 with the intention of chronicling the history of contemporary art by genre. Starting with the Exhibition of Modern Korean Sculpture (June 10–30, 1974),...
Ko Dongju, Bae Bonghwa, Lee Chunsik, Yim Changjae, Lee Seoksu, Heo Hong, Kim Jaehwa, Keum Gipung, Shin Bongsik, Heo Gu, Shin Kyunghee, Yun Deokim, Yang Jini, Park Tae-jun, Kim Jinhwa, Bu Dalseon, and Kim Eungho. Bae Gilgi served as the first president, and King Yongjin was appointed as an advisor....
Young Minds was a special exhibition organized from 1982 through 1987 by artists in small groups who were active in the 1980s with the goal of showcasing the new aesthetics of the younger generation. The Young Minds [Jeolmeun uisik], which was also the title of its exhibition, had the...
What Is the Realistic Painting of the Postwar Generation? is an exhibition on hyper-realist paintings held from March 16 through 22, 1978 at Art Center. Five young artists born between 1950 and 1954, Moon Youngtae, Song Gamun, Lee Sukju, Rhee Jaikwon, and Jo Sang-hyeon, participated in the...
The Seoul Contemporary Art Festival was a large-scale art festival held since 1975 by avant-garde artists of the time to counter the academism of the National Art Exhibition (Gukjeon). The first festival was held from December 16 through 22, 1975 at the National Museum of Modern Art, Korea...
The Seoul International Print Biennale was an international print exhibition hosted by Dong-A Ilbo newspaper company from 1970 through 1996. Since it started as an event to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Dong-A Ilbo, it was called the Dong-A International Print...
own avant-garde creation methods. They were Kang Kukjin, Kim Sun, Kim Jungsoo, Kim Yongchul, Kim Juyeong, Kim Han, Kim Hongjoo, Sung Neungkyung, Shin Hakchul, Lee Kun-Yong, and Hwang Hyochang. Among them, Sung Neungkyung, Shin Hakchul, and Lee Kun-Yong had participated in ’75 Today’s...
January 1982. For the 1982 edition, twelve art critics nominated one artist each. The recommended artists were Shin San-ok, Rim Songja, Kim Yongik, Shin Hakchul, Rhee Chulryang, Kang Hajin, Noh Wonhee, Ahn Byeongseok, Kim Kwansoo, Kim Inwhan, and Min Joungki. The exhibition was held in January 1983....
Exhibition of Ten Eastern Painters was an invitational exhibition of ten mid-career Eastern-style painters held under the theme of “a feast of Eastern paintings” by the Seoul Shinmun newspaper company from April 14 through 20, 1978 at the Seoul Press Center in Seoul. It is also...
The Seoul City Cultural Prize was established in 1949 by the Board of Education of Seoul after forming the Seoul Culture Committee to select and award individuals who made significant contributions to the development of national art and culture. With the exception of the Korean War period...
The Lacquerware Inlaid with Mother-of-pearl Training Center [Najeon chilgi gisulwon yangseongso] was established in August 1951 in Tongyeong city (then Tongyeong-eup), Gyeongsangnam-do Province under the name of Mother-of-Pearl Lacquerware Training School, a two-year provincial technical education...
Hoengdan was the name of an art group which was active only briefly from 1980 to 1983, and it was also the theme of their exhibition. Its establishment started from a reflection on Korean contemporary art in the 1970s, by artists who believed that art cannot turn a blind eye to social reality. The...