Young Minds
* Source: MMCA
Related
-
Baggat Daeseongri Exhibition
The Baggat Daeseongri Exhibition refers to a series of exhibitions entitled Winter, Open-Air Art Show at Daesung-ri held by the Baggat Art Group from 1981 to 1992 around Daesung-ri, Bukhan River. After the Daesung-ri exhibition, the Baggat Art Group changed the exhibition title several times: Baggat Art Daeseongri from 1996 to 2002, Baggat--Bukhan River from 2003 to 2004, and Baggat--Jara Island after 2005. The exhibitions emphasized “the distinct characteristics of the open natural area” of the Bukhan River and promoted “voluntary audience participation” and “eco-friendly and community-driven art in which nature and humanity can coexist.”
-
Sidaejeongsin (Zeitgeist)
Sidaejeongsin (Zeitgeist) is the first collective group formed in 1983 and remained active until 1987. In the early spring of 1983, Kim Hyeonsu, the director of the Third Museum of Art, asked Park Geon to curate an exhibition to make used of the cancelled exhibition period. Together with Moon Youngtae, Park Geon formed the Committee of Sidaejeongsin and tried a collective that gathered for exhibitions and publications and then dispersed. Moon oversaw organizing exhibitions, and Park assumed the task of publications. Moon and Park first met in April 1980 when Moon visited Park’s exhibition Strength in Busan. The two became close when Park came to Seoul and participated in exhibitions Young Minds and Traverse. Their goal was to weave together the sporadic small art movements of the early 1980s with a larger “cultural force.” Their intentions can be found in the following sentence printed in small letters on the cover of the mook (magazine-book) Sidaejeongsin: “’life’ to run toward from all directions; touch, pinch and embrace.” Park Geon stated that the spirit of an artist who sees through the times is "Zeitgeist.” In the preface of the first volume of Sidaejeongsin (Zeitgeist), the art critic Kim Yoon-Soo explained that “sidaejeongsin (zeitgeist) comes from the insight and recognition that the spirit making up our lives today is indeed in a state of corruption and irreversibility” and that “zeitgeist is the awakened spirit leading national history against all the phenomena, mindsets, institutions, and systems, all of which prevent all human beings from living a dignified life.” The first Sidaejeongsin exhibition was held in April 1983 at the Third Museum of Art. The fourteen artists who participated in the exhibition were Kang Yobae, Ko Kyeong-hun, Kim Bojung, Kim Jinyeol, Moon Youngtae, Park Geon, Park Jae-dong, Ahn Changhong, Yun Yeogeol, Lee Nagyeong, Lee Chulsoo, Lee Taeho, Jung Bocsu, and Choi Minhwa. Park Geon, who had edited textbooks at a university, edited and published the first volume of the mook Sidae jeongsin, which also served as an exhibition catalogue, in 1984. From then on, the group name, exhibition name, and mook name were collectively referred to as “Sidaejeongsin.” By 1987, they had organized a total of five exhibitions and published three volumes of the Sidaejeongsin. The theme of the first volume was “The Vitality of the Minjung Art Movement,” that of the second volume was “The Aesthetics of Liberation: Murals, Photography, Prints, and Cartoons,” and that of the third volume was “Sexuality in Our Time.” The second edition of the Sidaejeongsin exhibition traveled to Maek Gallery (Busan), Ijo Gallery (Masan), and Maekhyang Gallery (Daegu). The third edition was a print exhibition organized in collaboration with the Art School for Citizens. The fourth edition was held at Min Art Gallery, and the fifth edition was held on the theme of “what do our children draw” at the same place. In 1985, the National Art Association (Minjok misul hyeopuihoe) was established. As it published its bulletin in 1986 and Min Art Gallery, an exhibition space specializing in Minjung art was established, the Committee of Sidaejeongsin concluded its activities with the fifth exhibition. Afterwards, Moon Youngtae devoted himself to the activities of the National Art Association, and Park Geon engaged himself in the activities of the National Teachers’ Council for Democratic Education Promotion [Minju gyoyuk chujin jeonguk gyosa hyeopuihoe].
-
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.
Find More
Sign Up for Email Updates
