Post-Minjung and Postmodern: Transition of Korean Art in the Age of Democratization
2020 Public Lecture Series
Presented by Korean Cultural Center New York and AHL Foundation
Online Lecture by Jiyeon Kim, Ph.D. Art Historian
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
As democratization and globalization transformed Korean society, Korean art scenes underwent critical changes in the late 1980s. Both mainstream artists who mostly worked in “modernist” abstract modes, as well as Minjung artists who criticized their formalist approach, maintaining that art should reflect Korea’s political and social reality, faced challenges in this new era.
Although many were defined as individualists, a new generation of artists felt the pressure to keep up with international trends, to break away from the old system, and at the same time find cultural identity and fulfill their social responsibility.
This lecture will discuss the Korean art scene in the late 80s and early 90s, focusing on the struggles and aspirations of these young artists, who responded to rapid social, economic, and cultural changes, while dealing with new expectations from the public and the fast growing art market.
Image description
Apgujeong-dong: Utopia/Distopia
Exhibition catalogue, Seoul: Hyeonsil munhwa yeongu, 1992
Credit: Hyeonsil Munhwa (photograph image from Yeon Shim Chung eds, Korean Art from 1953: Collision, Innovation, Interaction, London: Phaidon, 2020, p..183.)
Speaker: Jiyeon Kim
Jiyeon Kim received a Ph.D. in East Asian Art History from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her main field of research is Korean art within its East Asian context, with an emphasis on social status and artistic identity. Her recent research includes the 19th and early 20th century Korean art market, the question of modernity in the art of Go Huidong (1886-1966) regarded as the “first Western style painter” of Korea, and individuality and social identity in early Korean photography. Apart from teaching at different U.S. and Korean universities, she has worked on several research and exhibition projects for the National Museum of Korea and the Fowler Museum at UCLA, as well as the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA. Currently she teaches at Montserrat College of Art and Wellesley College, MA.
This online lecture is presented as a part of Korean Culture Day 2020 for September program
