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Cubism in Asia: Unbounded Dialogue
Cubism in Asia: Unbounded Dialogue, Poster, 2005, MMCA Art Research Center Collection

Cubism in Asia: Unbounded Dialogue

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Cubism in Asia: Unbounded Dialogues was a touring exhibition co-organized by the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea (now MMCA); the Japan Foundation; the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; and the Singapore Art Museum, and held in Japan, Korea, and Singapore between 2005 and 2006. Based on two years and three months of preparation and four joint field surveys, 113 works by seventy-six artists were lent from seventy-five collections in eleven countries in a selection of Asian modern paintings. The exhibition was jointly hosted by leading national museums from the three Asian countries— Korea, Japan, and Singapore. The exhibition was inaugurated at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (August 9 – October 2, 2005), Japan, and travelled to the MMCA (November 11, 2005 – January 30, 2006), and then to the Singapore Art Museum (February 18 –April 9, 2006). In Asia, Cubism was perceived as a visual revolution developed in the West and as an indicator of modern art. The exhibition therefore sought to find a common art historical agenda in Asian modern art by examining the process of the reception of Western modernity and modern transformation in each country through the lens of Cubism. The exhibition was organized into four parts, identifying Cubism as the driving force behind each country's distinctive modern art, as it collided and fused with indigenous art forms, traditions, and customs. The Part 1 was “On the Table,” which showed Cubist still life as a testing ground for new perspectives; Part 2 was “Cubism and Modernity,” which showed how Asian countries abandoned naturalistic painting in favor of Cubism with a strategic perspective; Part 3 was “Body,” which featured how the human body was identified as the material of modernity; and Part 4 was “Cubism and Nation,” which demonstrated how Asian traditions and customs were integrated with Cubism to express the orientation of the new era or the modernization of tradition. Korea contributed 15 works by 11 artists including Gu Bonung, Kim Kichang, Kim Sou, Kim Whanki, Park Rehyun, Park Youngseun, Byon Yeongwon, Chu Kyung, Ha Indoo, Han Mook, and Ham Daejung. The exhibition attempted to present Asian modern art as a history of subjective translation, rather than a mere recipient of Western art, through the development of Asian Cubism in the twentieth century and became an important reference for subsequent joint exhibitions, research, and collaborations between curators and museums on Asian modern art.
* Source: MMCA

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