The First META-VOX Exhibition, Brochure, 1985, MMCA Art Research Center Collection
Meta-Vox
* Source: Multilingual Glossary of Korean Art. Korea Arts Management Service
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Small group movement
A term describing the tendency of many artists in the 1980s to work in small groups, in which the application of many diverse methods, attitudes and values in mediums such as painting, sculpture and installation was common. These groups associated with neither the established modernist abstract art community or the Minjung Art community, which formed the primary two ideologically and formally opposed movements of the 1980s. Instead, artists within these small groups focused on individual approaches to production based on situational contingency, and deliberately declined to develop into larger organizations, unlike the artists of previous generations. The formalization, commercialization, and globalization of the art community ultimately resulted in the disbanding of most of the small groups during the 1990s. However, the works produced within these groups were indicative of the Korean post-modernist movement that was to come.
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Department of Art at Hongik University
Established in 1949, the Department of Art at Hongik University consists of one art theory department and eleven practice-based departments, including painting, Oriental painting, printmaking, sculpture, woodworking and furniture design, metal art and design, ceramics and glass, textile art and fashion design, visual communication design, and industrial design. In 1955, it moved from Jongro-gu, Seoul to the current location in Sangsu-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul. The history of the College of Fine Arts can be largely divided into the period of the Department of Fine Arts from 1949 through 1953, the period of the School of Fine Arts from 1954 through 1971, and the period of the College of Fine Arts from 1972 until now. In March 1953, the Department of Fine Arts produced the first six graduates, and in the following year the School of Fine Arts with three departments was established. In December 1971, it was upgraded to a college, which exists up to the present. Several exhibitions organized by its graduates are notable, including the Four Artists Exhibition held in 1956 as the first anti-National Art Exhibition (Daehanminguk misul jeollamhoe or Gukjeon) by the third and fourth classes of graduates and the Union Exhibition of Korean Young Artists held in 1967 by graduates from the 1960s as an effort to realize experimental art.
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Installation
In a general sense, the term “installation” refers to the display or arrangement of artwork within an exhibition. In a stricter sense, the term “installation” can also refer to an art work specifically based in its wider display environment. Such installation art often attempts to enable the audience to become part of the new environment that the work creates. In this circumstance, the artwork becomes defined not only by its space, but also in terms of the relationship between the work, space and the audience.
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Kwanhoon Gallery
A gallery which opened in 1979 in Insa-dong. Its name was originally the Kwanhoon Art Museum, but this was changed to Kwanhoon Gallery in the early 1990s following the Museum and Art Gallery Support Act. In the 1980s, the gallery held exhibitions featuring prominent art organizations such as Ecole de Séoul, Logos & Pathos, and Meta-Vox, as well as the Museum exhibition. The gallery became a foundational platform for experimental and avant-garde contemporary art in Korea.
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Artists in Focus
Artists in Focus was the title of a series of exhibition held by Seoul Museum from 1982 through 1989. In November 1981, the Seoul Museum opened on the first floor of the former Belgium Embassy in Gugi-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul. The art critic Kim Yoon-Soo served as its first director. The Seoul Museum had organized exhibitions focusing on the discovery of young artists, including the inaugural exhibition featuring Kwun Suncheol. The exhibition period for each invited artist was limited to one month. Starting in 1982, the museum curated the Artists in Focus exhibitions by selecting most promising artists from the previous year. The purpose of the exhibition was to “sort out the confusion of the value order caused by the rush of exhibitions, various international art trends, and the rampant commercialism.” The principle for selecting artists was to choose “the most notable and outstanding artists, regardless of field or tendency, from among those who created and showed their works in the previous year.” There were eleven notable artists under the age of forty from the year 1981, who were recommended by eleven art critics. They were Kim Kyoungin, Kim Yongmin, Kim Jangsup, Kim Jungheun, Kim Taeho, Noh Jaeseung, Shim Jungsoo, Lee Chungwoon, Lim Oksang, Chung Kyungyeun, and Choi Wook-kyung. They submitted three works each, and the exhibition was held in January 1982. For the 1982 edition, twelve art critics nominated one artist each. The recommended artists were Shin San-ok, Rim Songja, Kim Yongik, Shin Hakchul, Rhee Chulryang, Kang Hajin, Noh Wonhee, Ahn Byeongseok, Kim Kwansoo, Kim Inwhan, and Min Joungki. The exhibition was held in January 1983. The works by Shin Hakchul, the winner of the ’82 Artist Award, selected by art journalists, were exhibited separately. The 1983 artists in focus were Kang Daechul, Kwon Yonghyeon, Son Sangki, Ahn Changhong, Yoon Miran, Lim Oksang, Jung Bocsu, Jo Sanghyeon, Ji Seokcheol, and Chun Junyeup. The 1984 artists in focus were Kang Myonghi, Hwang Jaihyoung, and Lee Hongwon. The purpose of organizing the exhibition was shifted to “focusing on the selection of artists or groups who have outstandingly captured the life and zeitgeist of the period over the past year in their works.” The artists selected in1985 were Kim Gwangjin, Park Buldong, Lee Chulsoo, Jin Youngsun, and Hong Soonmo. The artists in focus in 1986 were Hwang Changbae, Ahn Kyuchul, Lee Jonggu, Ryu Hurial, Lee Heungduk, Choi Suewha, Yeo Un, Min Joungki, Song Chang, and Lee Sukju. In 1987, Kim Hongjoo and the small group Meta-Vox were selected as notable artists. The 1988 artists in focus were Kim Jiwon, Park Mun-Jong, Son Kihwan, Lee Myoungbok, Bae Hyungkyung, Lim Youngsun, Park Jaedong, Photo Collective for Social Movement [Sahoe sajin yeonguso], and Women's Art Research Society [Yeoseong misul yeonguhoe]. After the month-long ’88 Artists in Focus held in February 1989, no more exhibitions were further held. Artists in Focus curated by the Seoul Museum coincided with the peak of Minjung art in the 1980s, but not all notable artists selected for Artists in Focus were Minjung artists. It was an exhibition of “notable artists” who succeeded in capturing the zeitgeist and generated a lot of buzz, as a “notable exhibition,” among artists.
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Seoul Museum
An art museum established in 1981 in Gugi-dong. The director of the Museum, Lim Setaek, was a member of the Reality Group alongside Oh Yoon and Oh Kyunghwan. Lim studied in Paris in the 1970s, where he engaged in exchange with intellectuals and figures in the art community. As befitting his personal history, the Seoul Museum not only contributed to the rise and continuation of Minjung Art, it also introduced the latest trends of French contemporary art to Korean society. The museum hosted solo exhibitions of the work of Shin Hakchul, Min Joungki, and Lim Oksang in the early 1980s. In 1982, the museum held Nouvelles Figurations en France, which featured prominent French contemporary artists such as Balthus and Roberto Matta. The museum also held the European Art of Today exhibition, which featured Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray. From 1982 to 1989, the museum held the annual Artists in Focus exhibition. The museum closed in 2001.
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