Activating Korea: Tides of Collective Action

Artists: BAE Young Whan, CDC, flyingCity, JNP Production,

KIM Gisoo, Sang-Don KIM, KO Hyun Joo, Minouk Lim,

mixrice, Hein-kuhn OH, and PARK Chan-kyong. Exhibition

design by CHOI Jeong-hwa

Curators: Mercedes Vicente, Curator Contemporary Art

Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, and Beck Jee-sook, Director of

ARKO Art Center

Activating Korea was on view at Govett-Brewster Art Gallery

in New Plymouth, New Zealand, from September to

November 2007. A bilingual English/Korean publication

featuring essays by curators Mercedes Vicente and Beck

Jee-sook, and Young Min Moon, was published in 2008.

Activating Korea: Tides of collective action looks at the

complex and contradictory meanings of collectivism in

South Korean contemporary artistic practices, within a

society where traditional values coexist with today’s

multifaceted changes. The works in this exhibition

represent a shift from the political representations of South

Korea’s authoritarian government, the Cold War and

national division heralded by 1980s Minjung (people’s) art.

Today, artists aim to raise awareness and effect change

around issues such as urban development, immigration

and national identity, and choose to work in collectives or

collaboratively with communities drawing on activist art

practices, research and project-based activities. Featuring a

range of media from photography, banners, posters, to

video and design, the artists in this exhibition challenge the

fast-paced cultural, economic and political changes facing

South Korea.