Hosted in collaboration with Kiaf SEOUL, Korea Arts Management Service (KAMS), and Frieze Seoul, the talks program features an ambitious agenda reflecting on some of the most salient issues in the international art world today. Designed to both create and strengthen relationships between artists, writers, and cultural leaders, the talks program aims to cultivate new ideas through active debate.
The buzz around the terms Korean art, the Korean Art Wave(Hallyu), and K-ART is growing. When did the first international exchange of Korean art begin? In the 1990s, with the globalization implemented under the civilian government, Korean culture began to be discussed in terms of center and periphery, pluralization, and hybrid culture. Korea’s major cultural policies, such as globalization, the Korean Wave(Hallyu), and K-ART, are inextricably linked. The 1988 Olympics and the 1993 Daejeon Expo installed the government-led paradigm of large-scale exhibitions in Korean art. The term Hallyu was coined as pop culture, including idols and fashion, gained prominence in the world. This talk program will examine K-ART, which is widely used in various fields, based on exhibitions held overseas. We will explore how K-ART is analyzed in the global context where cultural and historical systems differ, and how we define K-ART ourselves.
By focusing on the different art historical periods of Korean art, we will access the horizons of K-ART.
Moderator: Lee, Eunjoo
Lee Eunjoo’s research interests include print, photography, media art, and experimental art. Currently, she is a curator at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, and a visiting professor at Hongik University. Lee has also held positions as the director of alternative spaces Gallery Jungmiso and Art Space WATT. Her notable scholarly contributions encompass the “A Study on Experimental Art and Media Art in 1960-1970s”,“A Study of Lee Kang-So's Experimental Art in the 1970s”.
Panel: Kim, Juweon
Juweon Kim served as Chief Curator of the Daegu Art Museum, Director of Academic Research at the Yoo Youngkuk Art Foundation, and Chief Curator of the 2009 Cheongju International Craft Biennale. Her notable scholarly contributions encompass the “Asian Discourse and the Marco Polo Syndrome” (2014), “The ‘figurative versus abstract debate’ and ‘reality’ issues in Korean art of the 1960s” (2011).
Panel: Virginia Moon
Virginia Moon serves as an associate curator of Korean art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). She has curated various publications and exhibitions on Korean art, spanning pieces from ancient to modern times. Some of her notable exhibitions include Park Dae Sung: Virtuous Ink and Contemporary Brush (2022) and Korea —The Space Between:- The Modern in Korean Art (2022).
Panel: Seng Yu Jin
Seng’s research interests cover Southeast Asian art in relation to studies on diaspora, migration, and cultural transfers. He is focusing on the history of exhibitions and artist collectives in Southeast Asia. Currently he lectures at the National University of Singapore’s Minor in Art History.
Panel: Tobias Berger
Tobias Berger is Curator at Large at Tai Kwun, leading Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong. Tobias Berger worked as a Curator at the Museum Fridericianum in Kassel, Germany. He was the Artistic Director of the 8th Baltic Triennial of International Art in Vilnius, Lithuania and the Director of ARTSPACE NZ in Auckland, New Zealand.