'Over the past three decades, South Korean society has experienced a dramatic political paradigm shift — from authoritarian regime to democratic polity — during which art served as a productive site of social imagination. South Korean artists have actively participated in this socio-political transformation, giving tangible and material forms to the seemingly universal notions of democratic participation, public culture, and civil society. 

'To introduce a wide range of Korean political art, Being Political Popular: South Korean Art at the Intersection of Popular Culture and Democracy, 1980-2010 showcases 17 artists and collectives who investigate the questions of politics, collectivity, and social engagement in diverse mediums, including woodblock print, comic drawing, painting, collage, photography, installation, performance, and video. But the exhibition also situates art within another strand of cultural discourse that came to maturity alongside the country's democratisation — namely South Korean popular culture, or what is by now touted as the Korean Wave (hallyu) due to its status as a global cultural phenomenon. The artworks at hand clearly demonstrate the proximity to and interaction with popular culture, occasionally driving and formulating the very cultural ethos of the time. While complicating the presumed binary between political resistance and popular entertainment, the exhibition seeks to recuperate the aesthetics of humour, satire, and pleasure latent examples of the most radical Korean political art.' (Front flap)

Artist and writer biographies included. 

Access level

Onsite

editor
Location code
EX.KOR.BPP
Language

English

Publication/Creation date

2012

No of pages

212

ISBN / ISSN

9788965640592

No of copies

1

Content type

catalogue

Chapter headings

Preface - Sohl LEE

Introduction: Between Minjung and Taejung - Sohl LEE

1 Sites of Resistant Collectivity: Choi Byung-soo, Kim Dong-won, Labor News Collective, Park Jae-dong

2 Reenacting History: Kim Min-gi, Hong Sung-dam, Hein-kuhn Oh

3 Between One and Many: Siren Eun Young Jung, Mixrice, Minouk Lim

4 Seoul Tour / Pyongyang Express: Chan-kyong Park, Seung Woo Back, Listen to the City

5 The Past Is the Future: Park Bul-dong, Nam Gung Ho Seok

6 Play to Fly: Sangdon Kim, Minari and Hack

A Letter to the Future of Korean Art

The (Im)Possibility of Art as Life - LIM Minouk, 임민욱

Minjung, History, and the Crisis of Historical Subjectivity - LEE Namhee, 이남희

Kim Min-gi and the 1970s South Korean Youth Culture - KIM Changnam, 김창남

The Rise and Fall of Minjung Art - SUNG Wankyung, 성완경

Being Political Popular: South Korean Art at the Intersection of Popular Culture and Democracy, 1980
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Being Political Popular: South Korean Art at the Intersection of Popular Culture and Democracy, 1980-2010