New Political Art in Korea since the 1990s: Bad Boys Here and Now

Category of Exhibition : Ex n Ex
Date of Exhibition : 2009-10-17 ~ 2010-01-03
Location : 2F Main Gallery

Participating artists : 36 Korean Artists

Gyeonggi MoMA (Director: Kim Hong-hee) will be presenting an exhibition under the title of New Political Art in Korea since the 1990s: Bad Boys Here and Now for 79 days, from October 17th to January 3rd, 2010.

Gyeonggi MoMA has been hosting an annual exhibition called “Ex n Ex” with the aim of introducing various forms and contents of contemporary art within the context of “Experimentation” and “Expansion.” This year, Gyeonggi MoMA wishes to identify the current status of political art by observing how art in our time participates and crafts the political scene, under the overarching title of New Political Art in Korea Since the 1990s: Bad Boys Here and Now.

As with time, the concept and roles of political art is undergoing unprecedented change. From a revolutionary tool for promoting the disintegration of class, social change and ideological innovation, political art has shifted to proactively promblematizing issues that call for a most-structuralist deconstruction, such as race, environment, ecology, otherness, body and identity, aiming to abolish all binary presumptions. At the same time, political art criticizes the evils of financial capitalism, consumerism, bureaucracy and individualism borne out of the new liberal system, prompting us to revise our views of the future.

This exhibition will be highlighting the issues that have newly risen in politics of Korea since the 1990s. Major players in contemporary political art notes the characteristics of Korea and Asia’s modern history and geopolitical differences, along with the above mentioned global concerns, analyzing and criticizing problem areas that include the construction of megalopolises and new satellite cities, urban redevelopment, dispersion of the population, immigration and labor, as well as free trade, leading the local communities and community art to form a mutually beneficial relationship by proposing cooperative, further ‘involved’ type of artistic creation.

This year’s exhibition will feature artists in their 20s ~ 40s, those who have been constantly experimenting with and promoting new politico-artistic paradigms since the 1990s. They have been redesigning realm of political art by actively adopting post-modern concerns and strategies in order to produce local as well as global artistic discourse. Visitors will be able to witness the newest trends and historical changes that have been taking place in the ‘Here and Now’ of art scene in Korea, by observing over 150 works our exhibition proudly presents.