Adel Kim
Hongik University, Seoul, South Korea
Korean contemporary art is not a well-developed subject in Russian art studies. Despite the wide spread of globalization today, Asian art is still considered as a separated part of art history. This fact indicates the problem of exclusion of Asia from Eurocentric world context. Therefore, the importance of overcoming the mutual alienation seems to be obvious.
Installation art is one of the leading art genres nowadays. It is almost impossible to imagine an exposition of contemporary art without installation art pieces. However, it was not always like this. When the genre of installation emerged (known as “Environments” then), such art works could only be shown in limited marginal exhibition spaces. And it was only with time that it became official.
In post-war South Korea, the situation with installation art was similar. First experiments in installation were made by non-official artists and groups who were opposite to both political regime of military dictatorship and official art styles such as ‘dansaekhwa’. The significant contribution to the development of installation art in Korea was made by artists Lee Seung Taek, Kim Kulim, Lee Kun-Yong and art groups, such as AG, ST, TA-RA, Meta-Vox, Nanji-do etc.
In this paper, we will review the emergence of installation art in the 1970–1980s South Korea on the example of experimental art practices, compare its development with the history of Western installation and determine its influence on further development of contemporary art.