“What Is Art?” — Korean Conceptual Art Raises the Question
Creatrip Team
a month ago
The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) in Seoul is hosting “This Is (Not) Conceptual Art” through Oct 11, presenting 140 works by 28 Korean artists that trace how conceptual art in Korea asks viewers to think rather than simply look. Tracing its roots to Marcel Duchamp’s 1917 “Fountain” (a readymade urinal that challenged definitions of art), the exhibition focuses on language and philosophy-driven practices—especially experimental 1970s groups like ST (Space and Time). Works are organized into four sections—“Language, Logic, Action,” “Objects and Language,” “Maps and Measurement,” and “Sign Modulators”—and include performance documentation, video, photography, objects and archives. Highlights include Lee Kun-yong’s 1975 performance photos questioning place and boundary, Kim Hong-seok’s reinterpretation of Joseph Kosuth’s chair piece that substitutes “friend,” and Kwak Duk-joon’s video of four clocks showing divergent times to question notions of objective systems. The show also features a program of artist-led sessions and an international symposium on conceptual art in Korea and Asia. Curators aim to reposition Korean conceptual art as a major lineage in modern Korean art history and to prompt viewers to reconsider: what do you think art is? (ST group: a 1970s Korean experimental art collective)
