Second October Gathering: From Half to Whole, Exhibition brochure, MMCA Art Research Center Collection, Gift of Yun Suknam
October Gathering, From Half to Whole
* Source: Multilingual Glossary of Korean Art. Korea Arts Management Service
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Min Art Gallery
A notable exhibition space for minjung art that was established in 1986 by the National Art Association. The gallery formed during heightened political tensions after the military dictatorship’s censure of the The Year 1985, Power of the Art by the Twenties exhibition, which was held in 1985. The gallery hosted the Bangomunjeon, a direct critique of political reality, and it also held feminist art exhibitions such as the Women and Reality exhibitions from 1987 to 1993, which were organized by the Women’s Art Research Society [Yeoseong misul yeonguhoe]. In addition to art exhibitions, the gallery hosted film festivals, seminars, and educational programs as well as serving as a venue for discourse on the future direction of minjung art. After minjung art lost momentum in the beginning of the 1990s, financial difficulties caused the gallery to close in 1994.
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Feminism
Feminism can be defined as any activism or advocacy taken to challenge sexist inequality and the patriarchal formation of society. The notion of equal rights for men and women popularly emerged in Western culture during the 19th century, and feminism as a transnational political movement saw substantive legal breakthroughs with the rise of suffragism and the enfranchisement of women in various countries in the late 19th and early 20th century. Despite these legal gains women remained widely discriminated against, and in the 1950s and 1960s so-called second wave feminists in the West began to challenge the cultural conventions and institutional structural formations behind this continued inequality. Inspired by this approach within the cultural arena, a broad movement developed in the art world among artists, academics and organizers to challenge the patriarchal historical construction and institutional structure of art history. One of the most important works in this regard was Linda Nochlin’s text, Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? written in 1971. Since the 1970s, art world institutions have made various efforts to combat gender inequality in fields such as art criticism and exhibition planning. In addition the feminist approach to creating and curating art has created various discourses to present women’s experiences, perspectives, and challenges to the patriarchal art world establishment at a global level. The first feminist art movement in Korea started in 1986 with the October Gathering’s exhibition organized by Kim Insoon, Yun Suknam, and Kim Djin-suk and held in Min Art Gallery [Geurim Madang Min]. Advancing the cause of feminist art was a task also undertaken by the Women’s Art Research Society [Yeoseong misul yeonguhoe] under National Art Association [Minjok misul hyeopuihoe] in 1987.
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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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