Watching the Unseen – The Showcase of South Korean Moving Image

The three-day program devoted to video and art film from South Korea was prepared in cooperation with the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul (MMCA). Divided into six chapters, the program opens with a presentation of rarely shown works of early Korean video art from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, including works by Hyunki Park and Soungui Kim. Most of the program is devoted to the younger generation of Korean artists. They use new technologies and popular culture, boldly experiment with AI, and at the same time draw heavily on animism and folklore, as well as being inspired by activist movements. Selected films reflect dramatic historical events, the political turbulence of recent years, and a belief in the therapeutic, healing power of art.

Program 1: Korean Early Film and Video I

This is a historical collage consisting of works by Hyunki Park, Kangso Lee, Duckjun Kwak, and Kulim Kim from the 1960s and 1970s—artists who sought a new language for art, drawing on the energy of youth and counterculture.

Program:

Introduction: Soojung YI
Park Hyunki, Untitled (1980), 2'27", MMCA Collection
Kwak Duckjun, Self-Portrait (1978), 12’54”, MMCA Collection
Kim Kulim, Meaning of 1/24 (1969), 9’14”, MMCA Collection
Lee Kangso, Painting-78-1 (1977) 29’25”, MMCA Collection

 

The program "Watching the Unseen. The Showcase of South Korean Moving Image" was created in dialogue between the curator of the MMCA in Seoul, Soojung YI, and the curator of the MSN, Sebastian Cichocki. It heralds a program exchange between the MMCA and the MSN, in cooperation with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, in the coming years.