The First Hoengdan Exhibition, Brochure, 1975, MMCA Art Research Center Collection
Hoengdan
* Source: MMCA
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DAMU Group
DAMU Group, an art group active from 1980 to 1983, was founded based on the recognition of the 1970s as a period of juxtaposition between the real and the illusionary. It curated exhibitions on the theme of what is and what is visible in an effort to find a turning point for a new mode of existence different from such juxtaposition. Accordingly, the group experimented with new art forms that were different from existing ones and presented works and exhibitions aimed at practicing contemporary ideas and spirit. Its inaugural exhibition The First Exhibition of Damu Group was held on November 6, 1980 at the Art Center of the Korean Culture and Arts Foundation Art Center. Seven artists participated in the exhibition including Kim Jeongsik, Kim Hakyeon, Lee Heungduk, Yim Chungjae, Jeong Jinseok, Choe Hyeonsu, and Hong Seonwung, all of whom were graduates from Chung-Ang University. At the time, they rejected the monochromatic painting style and criticized the uniform formalism and art system of the 1970s as a barrier to overcome. DAMU Group viewed things as existing in a “complementary relationship” with other things and argued that the true nature of things is revealed in their organic relationship. In this light, the title of its founding manifesto was announced as “The Complementary Relationship of Things.” Since a single thing or a concrete form cannot define its true nature, the group thought that how things interact with each other should be explored to understand them. Thus, the artists of the group produced works by utilizing photographs of human figures and geometric forms, installing two or more objets, or adding scratches on the copies of real objects. After its inaugural exhibition, the group organized another exhibition Winter, Open-Air Art Show at Daesung-ri by 31 Artists in January 1981 at Hwarangpo on the banks of the Bukhangang River in Daeseong-ri, Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do Province. In July 1981, it held its second group exhibition at the Art Center, and in March 1982 it presented The Exhibition of Conversive Art. In August of the same year, the group held the exhibition The Straight Forwardness of Consciousness, the Echo, in which small groups Jeongae, Hoengdan, and TA-RA as well as the DAMU Group participated. After the third group exhibition What Is and What Is Visible held in August 1983 at the Art Center, the DAMU Group’s activities ceased because its members joined several Minjung art groups or went abroad to study and their ideas about art’s social engagement slightly differed.
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TARA
An art organization established in 1981 by Kim Kwansoo, Oh Jaewon, and Lee Hoon. The name is an abbreviation of the term tabula rasa, which means “blank slate.” In the preface to their inaugural exhibition, the group stated that it was necessary to engage in active self-reflection and bold action from the periphery of contemporary art, in a reality where grave issues of mannerism and meaningless self-replication persist. The group drew press attention by distinguishing itself from the mainstream painterly art community through personal emotionally based experimentation, rather than promoting any aesthetic ideology or methodology. The group held its inaugural exhibition in 1981 at Dongduk Art Gallery.
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