Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s–1970s attempts to revive the history of Korean experimental art that not only achieved innovations in terms of contemporary art in Korea but also broadened the scope of its practice into the global art world. Co-organized with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, this exhibition explores works by 29 artists and archival materials as it seeks to identify the universal themes of contemporary life and art that operate in Korean art beyond boundaries of geography and national identity, establishing supranational cultural bonds in the process.
Internationally, the period in question was a turning point in awareness, amid factors that included the revolutions of 1968, the anti-war movement for peace, the emergence of feminism, and issues related to the Third World. South Korea was confronting the rapid social transformations associated with accelerated modernization and industrialization, which were meant to rebuild the country in the wake of the Korean War. As members of the April 1960 student revolution generation, young artists advocated communication between art and society while protesting the establishment generation’s conservative art practices. They also welcomed art trends from overseas and translated them into their own language, while declaring “anti-aesthetic” and “post-medium” stances - ushering in the era of Korean avant-garde experimental art from the late 1960s. To young people at the time, “avant-garde” signified a new existential order for human beings and a future of broader emotional horizons, as well as a larger proposition that enabled them to make their own statements about society and art and attempt all manner of subversive gestures. Ultimately, experimentation became a creative impetus that gave rise to various provocative forms of artistic practice. Working in groups and individually, artists shifted away from established genres of painting and sculpture to encompass new artistic media and forms under the rubric of “experimental art” - including objects/three-dimensional art, happenings/events, and film/video. In the process, they reflected dynamic social phenomena in their work. Beginning with the activities of the Union Exhibition of Korean Youth Artists’ Origin, Zero Group, and Sinjeon (New Exhibition) Group, the trend quickly united around the Korean Avant Garde Association (A.G.), which led in turn to group activities through The Fourth Group, Space and Time (S.T.), and the Daegu Contemporary Art Festival. As the foundations for their creative work, these artists looked to the material abundance that had emerged from Korea’s economic development success, and to the transformation of Seoul into a megacity. The Korean style of avant-garde art that they shared was steeped in an aesthetic of material abundance and urban settings while sharing a critical message on human alienation; at the same time, its subversion of tradition laid the groundwork for a new avant-garde path forward. Through their participation in overseas biennials, they bore witness to the relationships of influence among coexisting art trends of the 1960s and 1970s in an international context, gaining an increasing awareness of their arrival in the global art world.
This continued until the Yushin administration of then-South Korean President Park Chung-hee began clamping down and banishing the spirit and bodies of those it saw as practicing subversive “degenerate art.” In combination with resistance literature, popular music, and film, the work of experimental artists helped to shape youth culture and create different contemporary social and cultural phenomena. These artists also held on to their dreams for themselves and their country Korea within the world. Today, that dream is part of the global cultural phenomenon that is the Korean Wave, together with the genres of film, literature, and K-pop. Not only is their work remembered as the original model for today’s Korean contemporary art, but their radical approaches to creative methods and materials produced one of the most important forms of 20th century avant-garde practice. Today, we find ourselves faced with the demands of an era of transition. We stand in the midst of crises brought on by climate change, the pandemic, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and vast business interests. In response, we can only appeal to “the young” and ask, “What new existential order and future of broader emotional horizons do we intend to present?” Young people of today - make your own statement. Experimental Art in South Korea, 1960s-1970s is co-organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, and The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea.
The exhibition is co-curated by Kyung An, Associate Curator, Asian Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, New York, and Soojung Kang, Senior Curator, The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea.
Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s–1970s attempts to revive the history of Korean experimental art that not only achieved innovations in terms of contemporary art in Korea but also broadened the scope of its practice into the global art world. Co-organized with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, this exhibition explores works by 29 artists and archival materials as it seeks to identify the universal themes of contemporary life and art that operate in Korean art beyond boundaries of geography and national identity, establishing supranational cultural bonds in the process.
Internationally, the period in question was a turning point in awareness, amid factors that included the revolutions of 1968, the anti-war movement for peace, the emergence of feminism, and issues related to the Third World. South Korea was confronting the rapid social transformations associated with accelerated modernization and industrialization, which were meant to rebuild the country in the wake of the Korean War. As members of the April 1960 student revolution generation, young artists advocated communication between art and society while protesting the establishment generation’s conservative art practices. They also welcomed art trends from overseas and translated them into their own language, while declaring “anti-aesthetic” and “post-medium” stances—ushering in the era of Korean avant-garde experimental art from the late 1960s. To young people at the time, “avant-garde” signified a new existential order for human beings and a future of broader emotional horizons, as well as a larger proposition that enabled them to make their own statements about society and art and attempt all manner of subversive gestures. Ultimately, experimentation became a creative impetus that gave rise to various provocative forms of artistic practice. Working in groups and individually, artists shifted away from established genres of painting and sculpture to encompass new artistic media and forms under the rubric of “experimental art”—including objects/three-dimensional art, happenings/events, and film/video. In the process, they reflected dynamic social phenomena in their work. Beginning with the activities of the Union Exhibition of Korean Youth Artists’ Origin, Zero Group, and Sinjeon (New Exhibition) Group, the trend quickly united around the Korean Avant Garde Association (A.G.), which led in turn to group activities through The Fourth Group, Space and Time (S.T.), and the Daegu Contemporary Art Festival. As the foundations for their creative work, these artists looked to the material abundance that had emerged from Korea’s economic development success, and to the transformation of Seoul into a megacity. The Korean style of avant-garde art that they shared was steeped in an aesthetic of material abundance and urban settings while sharing a critical message on human alienation; at the same time, its subversion of tradition laid the groundwork for a new avant-garde path forward. Through their participation in overseas biennials, they bore witness to the relationships of influence among coexisting art trends of the 1960s and 1970s in an international context, gaining an increasing awareness of their arrival in the global art world.
This continued until the Yushin administration of then-South Korean President Park Chung-hee began clamping down and banishing the spirit and bodies of those it saw as practicing subversive “degenerate art.” In combination with resistance literature, popular music, and film, the work of experimental artists helped to shape youth culture and create different contemporary social and cultural phenomena. These artists also held on to their dreams for themselves and their country Korea within the world. Today, that dream is part of the global cultural phenomenon that is the Korean Wave, together with the genres of film, literature, and K-pop. Not only is their work remembered as the original model for today’s Korean contemporary art, but their radical approaches to creative methods and materials produced one of the most important forms of 20th century avant-garde practice.
Today, we find ourselves faced with the demands of an era of transition. We stand in the midst of crises brought on by climate change, the pandemic, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and vast business interests. In response, we can only appeal to “the young” and ask, “What new existential order and future of broader emotional horizons do we intend to present?” Young people of today - make your own statement.
Experimental Art in South Korea, 1960s-1970s is co-organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, and The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea.
The exhibition is co-curated by Kyung An, Associate Curator, Asian Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, New York, and Soojung Kang, Senior Curator, The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea.
