Faculty

Young Min Moon

Foundations / Interdisciplinary Studies
FAC 455
Phone: (413) 577-0624
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Incongruent introduces some of the sociopolitical forms of South Korean art made since the 1980s. Centered on a small contingent of artists who have been sensitive to the collective memories and social upheavals in recent decades, the exhibition probes the Post Cold-War politics that still grip the peninsula. The artists are committed to the task of recuperating both collective trauma and individual memories. Rather than seeking consolation, empathy, or closure, they are instead inscribing a new history through questioning, investigation, and analysis. In light of the current US foreign policies toward Iraq and North Korea, the exhibition provides a context for discussion and understanding of the critical issues from their local perspective. Premiered at Richard F. Brush Gallery at St. Lawrence University, the exhibition traveled to Liebling Center for Film, Photography, and Video at Hampshire College and Hartnett Gallery at University of Rochester in 2007. The catalogue was published by Hyunsil Cultural Research, Seoul, Korea, in 2006.

Moon contributed an essay to the catalogue of this major exhibition that explores the complex and contradictory meanings of collectivism within Korean contemporary artistic practice in a society where traditional values and today’s multifaceted changes coexist. The works in this exhibition represent a shift from the political representations of Korea’s military dictatorship, the Cold War, and national division. Heralded by 1980s Minjung art (people's art), many artists today aim to raise awareness and bring about change around issues such as urban development, immigration and national identity. Featuring a range of media from photography and video to installation, banners, posters and design, the exhibition challenges the fast-paced cultural, economic and political changes in the contemporary Korean society.Activating Korea is co-curated by Mercedes Vicente and Beck Jee-sook in conjunction with Insa Art Space of the Arts Council Korea.

CV (.doc)