Kim Beom at Unconquered. Critical Visions from South Korea

Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo presents Unconquered. Critical Visions from South Korea, an exhibition exploring criticality as a creative tool in contemporary aesthetic strategies. The exhibition includes artwork by five artists from Seoul –Park Chang-Kyong, Lim Minouk, Beom Kim, Young Whan Bae and Sangdon Kim. Unconquered is organized by Museo Tamayo in Mexico City and Insa Art Space in Seoul.

In the 1980s, a number of social movements and a more profound sense of a collective political consciousness from the masses contributed to a process of democratization in South Korea. This process peeked in 1992 with the end of a 30-year military dictatorship. That decade, South Korea flourished. Exportation of information technologies, and heavy industries, among other goods, began to play a fundamental role, and established South Korea as an advanced economy in the world.

The artists in Unconquered mostly emerged in the 1990s. While they were partially influenced by the 1980s generation directly associated to Minjung Art–a politically oriented arts movement in South Korea characterized for its imagery of the common people, its critique of authoritarianism and imperialism, and its struggle for democratization–this younger group of artists also looked at politically sensitive artistic movements abroad, particularly at new developments in public art. Respectful yet doubtful of the current impact of populist themes and formal strategies in art, the artists in Unconquered created a new, more personal, visual language to make their work. Through a language of reflection rather than reaction, they challenge the political instrumentalization of art.

Unconquered is guest-curated by Heejin Kim, who as the artists is also based in Seoul. She has selected artworks that mostly address on every day events, and that speak from an individual standpoint about the self as a political subject. This self-reflexivity subtlety provokes a new sensibility towards the everyday and a critical vision of one's surroundings.

Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo
Reforma y Gandhi s/n
Bosque de Chapultepec
Mexico City, 11580
(+52) 5286 6519

http://www.museotamayo.org

Title:	Inconquistable: Visiones criticas de Corea del Sur
Alternative Title:	Unconquered: Critical Visions from South Korea
Description:	This leaflet accompanies the group exhibition of Korean artists which took place in Mexico in 2009.  Includes a curatorial note by the curator Heejin Kim and a list of participating artists.
Language/s:	English, Spanish
Artist/s:	PARK Chankyong(박찬경), LIM Minouk(임민욱), KIM Beom(김범), BAE Youngwhan(배영환), KIM Sangdon(김상돈)
Curator/s:	KIM Heejin(김희진)
Organiser/s:	Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo (Mexico City - Mexico) Insa Art Space (Seoul - Korea)
Year of Publication:	2009 http://www.aaa.org.hk/Collection/Details/31264

Contemporary Korean Art Goes to Mexico By Cathy Rose A. Garcia, Staff Reporter Contemporary Korean art is being introduced in Mexico City through an exhibition at the Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo. Five Korean artists ― Park Chan-kyong, Lim Min-ouk, Kim Beom, Bae Young-whan and Kim Sang-don ― were chosen to show their works at the ``Unconquered: Critical Visions from South Korea'' exhibition. It features 18 works by the Seoul-based artists, and will run through Jan. 24. ``This exhibition takes a complimentary proposition between a historical survey exhibition and an agenda-focused project. By juxtaposing some old works that contextualize each artist and their new productions, 'Unconquered' attempts to provide both a framework of understanding each artist and their recent agenda converged from new works," organizers said in a statement. The five Korean artists, who are in their thirties and forties, have been influenced by the ``Minjung'' (People's) Art Movement of the 1980s and international art practices of the `90s. ``While varying in an aesthetic application of these two influences, these artists share the common interest that combines a local concern with the regional reality and an international concern with the public as social subjectivities,'' organizers said. Also an art critic and teacher, Park has been interested in post-colonial awareness and critical art discourse in Korean art. He is presenting a new work, ``Black Out,'' which is composed of a video showing scanned images of North Korean seascape paintings, and seven framed photographs. He incorporated flickering shots within the sequence of North Korean images. ``The overt projection of revolutionary imagery onto the paintings on the contrary reminds me of the chronic insufficiency of energy in North Korea. These paintings perfectly serve their function by fostering the spirit of the people. On the other hand, isn't my video art wasting electricity, apart from stealing their paintings?'' Park was quoted as saying by the organizers. Kim Sang-don presents ``Rose Island," an installation of photographs, videos and various objects, including a mirror and few grains of rice. In the videos, people's everyday routines seem trapped and repeated. ``Could even the seemingly useless gestures be considered meaningless? Sometimes, doing nothing can be the only mode of confrontation. I could intuitively see a certain rigor and craving among the people. If they are deprived of or even displaced from a verbal language, artists should suggest for them a different mode of articulation,'' Kim said in the exhibition statement. Bae deals with the emotions of ordinary Koreans, especially the under-privileged. In ``Heart of Man,'' he tackles the sense of insecurity of young Korean men who struggle to find their own identity while serving in the military. His slide projection shows a military scrapbook, which are traditionally made by the servicemen of a unit to send off a fellow soldier who has completed his term. Lim, known for tackling the themes of discontinuity and displacement in her works, is showing the installations ``Portable Keeper'' and ``S.O.S. Adoptive Dissensus'' for the exhibition. Kim Beom's work ranges from drawings, text pieces and videos to animation, and focuses on subjects that relate to ``visible appearance and invisible substance.'' Aside from the exhibition, there was also a parallel educational program, ``Critical Visions from Mexico,'' featuring lectures, film screenings and guided tours at the museum. The exhibition in Mexico is one of the international programs of Insa Art Space (IAS) that was integrated into the Arko Art Center in June. This was part of IAS' collaboration with Museum as Hub, an international art institutional network organized by New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. www.museotamayo.org www.newmuseum.org/learn/museum_as_hub. http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/culture/2013/01/148_55697.html