‘The Secret of Fernery’ is the title of the exhibition and as well as an individual work. ‘Fernery’ is very important material to express Kiefer’s work and concept. It has very long history compared to other plant so it is used to contain many motives in his works. His works are usually overwhelming in scale and his use of earthy or heavy materials.

When you go into the gallery, there are 20 huge panels covering the whole wall. Panels look like vasculum or fossil at the first sight because inside, the panels are full of toil and plants. But in the distance, it seems lika abstract painting even as it uses real materials. In the center of the room, there is one big structure made up of steel scrap. I wondered why these two kind of works were put together in one space because it looked very irrelevant. But I think this shows the paradox of finiteness and infinity. The circulation of nature and the decadence of the artificial. He showed this message abstractly.

On the second floor, there are huge canvases consisting of various objects. He uses many objects on canvas like photo, ashes, clothes, straw… All these objects make his panting more affluent. Especially his work ‘Sky on the ground’ shows rough and live painting. Straws attached on the bottom connect outside and inside of canvas. It seems as if I can touch that material and behind that something mysterious world will exist along the long road to the sky. These dried or dead plant paradoxically shows vitality and history of nature.

His works seem full of ciphers and stories that hardly unravel. Meanwhile the images and materials he use very familiar to us. For me, the plant attached on canvas was very strong. It mingled each other in one picture roughly and makes some narrative in that space. That unpredictable format encouraged me to imagine more about that picture.

PARK Sunmin

In recent years, I have noticed that many contemporary Korean artists present works that share Williams’ reflection on machine culture or, in other words, modernization. Among them, in particular, I am interested in those who take architecture as the subject matters of their art, because, as the current cityscape of Seoul proves, Modernist movement left a significant visual legacy to the field of architecture in Korea, and I think it is only natural that artists direct their attention to this social history.

Korea was never the precursor or the leader of the international Modernist movement, but rather, Modernism was accepted as the filler of the chasm between the Korean people’s abandonment of indigenous culture and the aspiration to join the global community in the 1970s and 1980s. However, it can be said that Korean Modernism has its own aesthetics, distinguished from the international style, since some transformation occurred when it was combined with existing material culture. As seen in Kim Sang Gyun’s “The New Castle,” a series of cement building models which consist of an assemblage of the facades of actual buildings in Korea, the western architectural style was imported and actively accepted by the nation without criticism. As a result, even the most historical part of Seoul, such as Jongno, lost the patina as an ancient city, and the whole scenery was replaced with a new hybrid style, which erased the local identity.

It is also noteworthy that Modernism was introduced to Korea just as formal style, without the philosophy and theories behind the movement being considered. It was a political decision towards growth-oriented economy, rather than a utopian desire to create a better world, that motivated Korea’s modernization. As a result, modern architecture in Korea hardly contributes to urban planning nor serves as organizational solution for lower classes in society. Rather, modern skyscrapers erected next to old structures often create a chaotic street atmosphere and the cell-like apartments equipped with the latest technology and interior decoration tend to be the most expensive housings sought after by the upscale.

There are some artists of young generation who directly deal with this contemporary cityscape in their work. A photographic artist, Kim Sang-gil, captures ordinary buildings and street scenes that we see in our everyday life, and a painter, Kim Soo-young, fills her canvases with the detailed images of modern buildings in Seoul. The locations and the buildings that appear in their works are all familiar to Koreans, but at the same time, we feel strange to the view of their pictures. Certainly, they would have their own statement on the legacy of Korean modernization, but they cleverly disguise it under the cool and intelligently picturesque surface. Instead of having empathy with what has been happening in our society, they are observing it from a distance and presenting an uninterested view.

The last artist on my list is Lee Bul. Over the past 20 years, she has produced visually stunning yet theoretically provocative works. In the early stage of her career, she presented works demonstrating her strong feminist viewpoints, often using her own body as the subject as well as the medium. But, in the course of time, Lee has turned to create conceptual sculptures, and recently, she presented the works taking forms of architectural models. In a 2007 interview with Chosun Ilbo, she explained that her recent productions, especially the ones presented at her solo exhibition at Fondation Cartier, were her “architectural expression on the distorted ideal of Modernism.”

As an artist who has renown for being international, Lee expands her probe on Modernism into the global level. Through her work, she unfolds her knowledge and interpretation on the works by Modernist architects, such as Vladimir Tatlin and Bruno Taut, and at the same time connects it with Korea’s modern history, especially that of military regime. Although she transformed her work from human body to architecture, one big consistent subject underlying her entire practice is “the deep-seated human drive toward vainglorious ambition and the repercussions of inevitable failure.”[1]

Modernism’s grand ambition and its legacy have been credited with bringing remarkable progress in the global community and equally criticized for destructing the traditional culture and heritage. In Korea, the criticism can be more serious because the modernization of the society was not a voluntary and well-thought-out movement but the tide it had to follow during the political upheaval. In this sense, it is noteworthy to take a look at the modern landscapes depicted in the above works, because they remind us of what our society has been through in the past, enlighten us on the contemporary artists’ contributions towards redefining our culture and history, and inspire us to ponder on what we could and should do in the future.

YOO Sengeun Euna

The Canadian Media critic Marshall McLuhan proposed that the media itself, not the content they carry, should be the focus of study. Popularly quoted as “the media is the message”, McLuhan’s theory was that a medium affects the society in which it plays a role; not by the content delivered over the medium, but by the characteristics of the medium itself.

Zin Kijong’s installation works looks like criticism of the mass media fabrication. But he is not criticizing and judging the media via its broadcasting system. Be that as it may, he does not believe blindly in mass media either. He is just attracted by the virtual reality that mass media produced.

In the late afternoon of a rainy day, I visited the house he uses as his studio and living quarters in Yonhidong. He said it is not organized yet because he moved here not long ago. But it was well organized and I can feel a delicate and tidy personality. I also recognize some astronaut figures from his recent solo exhibition ‘On Air’. He has some plastic models and miniatures of warships, tanks, as well as replica arms. Drinking hot hub tea, I asked about his past works. He is a prominent young artist at the age of 28. It is an exceptional case in Korea Art field, as he also works with Arario Gallery. He came into the spotlight at his graduation exhibition ‘the world corps map’ in Kyungwon University. This installation used line tracer and CCTV camera. It is a fragmentary portrait of a bloody world war and a global village full of corpses. His motif of work is the Iraq war on the TV news and documentaries. Most of his themes are from of mass media. He says, we are already too deeply involved with mass media in our daily lives.

His deep attachment to media started from his part time job making television documentary programs. He noticed that even documentaries, which deliver historical fact, distort and manipulate information. He witnessed the power of mass media with his bare eyes. His ‘On air’ projects started from the National Geography channel. It was extended to CNN and History Channel when he got new inspiration from television program. The brilliant idea, in sense, is making a screen module hat seems like an advertisement channel.

He loves Michel Gondry’s movies and video works, and he listenes techno and electronic music. He is one of the young generations who live in the media world. He has the sentiment of young “M” generation (mobile, media). Moreover, he has insight and a mature vision with his judge standard. His past works are also interesting. When he was a student, he did performance at the former West Gate Prison in Seoul. The West Gate Prison was used during the Japanese occupation to detain leaders of the independence movement, and later it was used for social criminals. He could find lots of scribbles on the cell walls. In the small room, the past days and the present time is coexisting. He stayed there for 15 days, and studied the meaningless scribbles on the bottom and wall; he made new history on the wall. Those scribbles were also filmed by a line tracer camera.

He has traveled quite lot as well. He has been to a US residency program and also been invited to Biennales and other media exhibitions. When he was traveling, he was not under an obsession of his art works. He just enjoyed the traveling and new experience in another country. In his residency program, he did not make a lot of works, instead the experience of meeting other artists, drinking beers and chatting about each others works became an essential experience.

He has traveled across Europe twice and visited Japan a few times. His replica model was purchased in adult-kid toy shop in Japan. He says, that lately the Korean art scene offers a good environment for artists. If the artist has talents, there are a lot of residency programs and grants in Korea and also internationally. “I am not a genius or a hard worker”, he says. “I am just a little bit clever and have had good luck.” He is object of envy among the young artists who work under much poorer conditions. I think in the recent art world, the power of success is getting a lot of information, using publications and being able at communicating with other art people. He said just ‘luck’ but in my opinion, he was well prepared for the art world. He is a professional, a worldly wise man and he knows what his special talents are. In this complicated and crowded art world, young artist have to know how to present themselves in front of the public.

KIM Jihee

From paying unemployed men for letting them tattoo a line across their backs to paying people to masturbate, Spanish artist Santiago Sierra rarely fails to create outrage. His actions based on Marx’s discussion of the value of labor and exchange are for sure accepted in art society. However, when inviting a German audience to don gasmasks and walk through a former synagogue pumped full of car exhaust fumes, he seems to have crossed a line.

The artist transformed a former synagogue in Pullheim-Stommeln near Cologne into a gas chamber. He installed long plastic tubes to funnel the toxic fumes into the synagogue from six running cars parked outside. Visitors who had to wear gas masks to protect themselves could enter the site one at a time and stay for only a few minutes accompanied by a fireman. 245 cubic meters, a title which refers to the volume of the former synagogue, was finally and not surprising shut down by officials of the town of Pullheim-Stommeln after protests from the Jewish community in Germany. Stephan Kramer, secretary of Germany’s central Jewish council, displayed his disagreement and offense with the work in his statement:

   “Anyone who thinks it’s art to simulate a ‘gas chamber’ via highly toxic car exhaust  fumes in a former synagogue attempting to convey supposed authenticity is hurting not just the dignity of the victims but also that of the Jewish community. This has absolutely nothing to do with a culture of remembrance. It’s a scandal. It’s an unbelievable provocation at the expense of Holocaust victims.”

Sierra reacted by stating that with this work he hoped to raise awareness about “the banalization of the Holocaust” as well as “the industrialized and institutionalized death through which European people lived and still live in the world.”

Previously, the synagogue has been transformed by artists like Richard Serra, Rosemarie Trockel, Carl Andre, and Rebecca Horn, while the Synagogue itself has not been used for religious purposes since it was closed abd seized by the Nazis almost 80 years ago.

Frankly, I do understand the point of view of Sierra as well as the Jewish representative. I also understand that any reproduction of the heinous acts commited during the Holocaust will not be welcomed, in particular not by a well argumented and educated community like the Jewish in Germany – as a contrast to other groups like homeless people or prostitutes that Sierra has worked with in other projects. Yet, apart from the sensitive issues of Jewish and German communities, there is also a huge amount of critique against Sierra based on also other angles and collisions of interest. When looking into the reactions on the work, I was interested in many types of comments but I focused on a certain group of replies.  

I looked for certain angry and anonymous comments of his work. I’m not sure that whether people who commented are related to art or not. I have to assume they are sincerely interested in his work or art itself and want to share what they think and feel. But my main concern is when those people, randomly found on Internet,  critizises Sierra’s  work, many of them were emotionally focused on the “huge queues” waiting for the thrill of a “ride of death” in the presence of firefighters.

This critique did not consider so much the historical, economical, cultural or race issues and  also intended at insulting Santiago Sierra, without giving consideration to his bold approach running the risk of trivializing the Holocaust. I’m convinced these people also hate his other works.

When entering the empty space of the synagogue, visitors probably faced the immediacy of their own death, experienced the claustrophobia of a gas chamber behind their masks and could imagine the fragility of life. They surely felt the fear and were touched and deeply impressed individually. But the anonymous reactions from the internet found that Sierra was abusing the German with his work which they found very impure, mean, brutal, amoral, violent and harsh.

For me, these responses are just ways of showing dissatisfaction or complaint, while not having much values as judgements. Sierra’s main purpose of work is not primarily to create empathy for the victims. Maybe that is a side-effect of the work. But by making this a ”living” museum of death, we are provoked to face the gross injustices at the hand of capitalism in our own society.

   After reading people’s comments, I had an epiphany: in regards of Sierra’s work, there are two kinds of people in the world. On the one hand people in the art society, who accept his work and discusses it with very little attachment, and then on the other hand people feeling unjustified and who do not belong to the art world.

Still, this work by Sierra is a very poignant and powerful look into what so many Nazi victims went through. But it also seems like the purpose of the piece is to create controversy, and this purpose was certainly attained.  I also believe he wanted to avoid reactions only coming from the usual suspects, professionals that stand ready to comment on any artistic works. Within Sierra’s artistic context, we can understand that he doesn’t care about the feelings of people volunteering to take part in his work for usually an economical compensation. He might not even take the opinions of the Jewish community too seriously.

Then, Why did Sierra back off when the representatives of the Jewish community said ‘pull out!!!’? To defend his reasons to back off, his personal opinion can help explanation. In person, while Santiago Sierra considers his work as being politically driven, he is ultimately content with simply bringing specific situations from the world into focus. He believes that there is no possibility that we can change or avoid anything with our artistic work in the context of reality:

”We do our work because we are making art and because we believe art should be something, something that follows reality. But I don’t believe in the chance of change.”

In this statement he separates the art world from the real world. Probably many of his critics want to connect these two worlds again. To be precise speaking, his work does not cross or intend to cross the line between art and reality, and this work is not an exception.

It seems like this work crosses the line between art world and real world only on condition that it reality is be regarded as a part of the work. To sum up, when considering this work itself, it stays within the confines of formal art. However, when considering the vast comments, it crossed the line on the Internet between people inside of the art world and people outside of the art world, where people don’t read them formally.

CHO Ikjung

Gimhongsok had his solo exhibition titled “In Through the Out Door” at Kukje Gallery from April 17^th through May 19^th, 2008. The beginning of this exhibition was quite noisy due to a controversial performance conducted at the opening reception: the artist hired a prostitute at 600,000 Korean won and had her attend the party as an anonymous guest. Then, the artist announced that he would give 1.2 million Korean won to the person who recognized the prostitute. The performance succeeded as Gim had planned and the guest who noticed the prostitute was paid the money. The incident received some negative reviews from media, which accused Gim of being unethical.

Gim was supervising a photographic session with a professional photographer and a female model, when I met him at Kukje Gallery for an interview. My first question was naturally about the work that he was doing.

“The female model is actually an actress who acted as the prostitute in the opening night. I had to hire her because it was so hard to get a real prostitute, and I had been keeping this in secret until yesterday. Today’s photographic session has been organized to make records of this exhibition. I invited the people I had worked with, including the actors and actresses, and will have their photographs taken.”

Before I met Gim, I thought that he was paying homage to the artists who produced similar kind of works, such as Santiago Sierra, by the performance. But after a conversation with him, it turned out that he was actually presenting his critical view on such work and, at the same time, suggesting his own idea. He said:

“I see myself as a coward, and always feel that I am disadvantaged. So, through my work, I am seeking neutrality where no one can exert their influence or power on others. I don’t believe that art can enlighten people or do a mercy job. Suppose that an artist produced a work hiring hundreds of deprived people. Then, what did they get from it? What contribution can the artwork make to those people? Nothing. Those kinds of projects are only for the artists. I want people to get out of all the plots that a society or the world has created.”

No wonder that there are many twists in his work. He wants to look at everything the other way round, just as the exhibition title “In Through the Out Door” suggests. I could not help asking whether he was following with interest the hottest news in our society on the mad cow disease and Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

“Yes. I think the whole thing is nonsense. We should not react to the hopeless government’s daily administration. Both the government and people need to learn patience, and observe things with a broader and long-term view.”

YOO Seungeun Euna

May 14, 2008, at Kim Sora’s Studio in Itaewon, Seoul

When one observes the installations and sculptures of Kim Sora, it is difficult to grasp the personality of the artist as the work appears detached and distanced, almost as though the presence of the artist has been taken away. For this reason, I was most intrigued to interview Kim Sora.

Often, artists are asked questions such as “so what made you decide to become an artist”, in the case of Artist Kim, Sora the answer for such a clichéd question actually sparked some interesting facts about her decisions to pursue a career as an artist. In Korea, if a child is accepted to Seoul National University[1] on taking the national entrance examination, the parents become ecstatic, as such an outcome in the Korean society is an emblem of pride and success. Kim Sora did just that. She was accepted into the nation’s best university, to the department of sculpture. But was this significant to her, did it mean anything? Once she began attending classes, Kim Sora was disappointed and confused. She felt trapped and soon she had to find a way to survive. What may have been considered as a satisfying achievement to others, meant very little to her.

According to Kim Sora “an artist is created by the artist’s own self and not by educational background or other circumstances, you really have to be willing to develop yourself into an artist”. Looking back to how she began as an artist, she states that the best thing she had ever done in her life was to drop out from Seoul National University and allow herself to lead an independent life in France. Of course the decision could not have been easy, yet she was brave enough to realize her needs and above all she was true to herself. Perhaps this is what it requires to become an established artist.

The eight years that Kim Sora spent in France, permitted her to discover more about herself and her abilities. In the first few years she hardly did anything but eat chocolates. She said that she never ate that much chocolate in her entire life. This was a way of addressing what she wanted and also a means to find out about things that she liked. Such idle times gave her space to break away from existing notions and to discover new ones. It seems that Kim Sora needed time to find her own voice.

She says, “I can only do things that I like to do most, so I just do things that I like”, and this mentality is reflected in her artworks. All the projects that she has allowed herself to do were done only because she liked them. When questioned about the direction of her work, she replied by saying that her main interest comes from people, not the actual observation or interaction with them but rather how people are participated to co-ordinate her installations. She considers her project as people’s project, a collaborative result of many hands. In this respect, her working process is interesting as she seeks for a participatory process. She starts with an idea and then she thinks it through carefully only to seek for ways to execute it. She likes to collaborate with other artists and naturally the interview touched upon Kim Sora’s collaborative work with Gimhongsok.

The collaborative method of working between the two artists is most interesting because the two never agreed on anything. She enjoyed and included the tension created by one another. “OH, we were so different, Gimhongsok is calculative and structured, at the same time he is weary of situations while I like to play around, improvise and react. But I like this, I like the fact that we could hardly communicate, perhaps this is the essence of our collaborative work”. The two have worked on many installation projects since the year 2000, including C.H.I.S. Chronic Historical Interpretation Syndrome, for the 50th Venice Biennale, and Antartica, at Artsonje, Korea.

Kim Sora treats each of her exhibitions as a process contributing to her personal artistic development and currently she is in the process of inspecting her past works to combine the essence that are present in them to condense into her next solo exhibition. The “Hansel and Gretel”, exhibition was her first solo show in Korea. The exhibition divided space into three sections, “No Secret”, “No Regrets” and “No Return”, almost like a subjective statement on the artist’s own life and work using images, sounds, prints, furniture, sculptures and drawings.  Kim Sora seemed to be assessing her present standpoint. She states that she is never satisfied with the outcome of her artworks.

Similar to her installations and the images that she uses in her work, her studio was clean and organized, with parts of her work from previous exhibitions placed here and there. Nothing is intended and nothing is structured, yet within this openness and oblivion, there exists structure and a subjective core. She was once influenced by the Russian Futurist poet Velimir Khlemnikoff and the linguistic experimentation in sound symbolism of Zaum.

I was very impressed with the openness of Kim, Sora, “what you see is what you get, and I do not know how I will change the next time”. Perhaps this applied to everything and everyone as situations are always changing and nothing ever remains the same, for most things in life are ephemeral, and there is nothing wrong with that.

CHO Haeyoung

■ About Kim, Sora

Born 1965 in Seoul, Korea
Studied in Seoul National University and in Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts de Paris
Lives and works in Seoul, Korea

■ SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2007 Melting Alaska, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK

■ SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2007 World Factory, Walter & Mc Bean Galleries, San Francisco, U.S.A.
Somewhere in Time, Artsonje Center, Seoul, Korea

2006 A Tale of Two Cities, Busan Biennale 2006, Contemporary Art Exhibition, Busan, Korea
Through the Looking Glass, Asia House, London, UK

2005 Hermès Korea Misulsang, Artsonje, Seoul, Korea
Art Circus-Jumping from Ordinary, International Triennale of Contemporary Art, Yokohama 2005, Japan
Seoul-Until Now!, Charlottenborg Udstillingsbygning, Copenhagen, Denmark
Secret Beyond the Door, Korean Pavilion, 51st Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
40x40Project, SpaceLoop, Seoul, Korea

2004 Cosmo Vitale, REDCAT Gallery, Los Angeles, U.S.A.
You are my sunshine: Korean Contemporary Art 1960-2004, Total Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
Z.O.U. Zona D’Urgenza, SENSI Contemporanei, Villa Zerbi, Reggio Calabria, Italy
Stranger than Paradise, Total Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
Antarctica, Artsonje Center, Seoul, Korea

2003 Zone of Urgency, Dreams and Conflicts, 50th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, Niigata, Japan
Everyday: Contemporary Art from Japan, China, Korea and Thailand, Kunstforeningen, Copenhagen, Denmark

2002 Archivio Attivo, Centro Per L’Arte Contemporanea Carbognano, Carbognano, Italy
Under Construction, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Three Young Artists from Korea, MDS Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Pause: Gwangju Biennale 2002, Gwangju Metropolitan Museum of Arts, Gwangju, Korea
BLINK, Artsonje Center, Seoul, Korea
Fantasia, East Modern Art Center, Beijing, China
ASIANVIBE, Espai d’Art Contemporani de Castelló, Spain

2001 Fantasia, space imA, Seoul, Korea
My Home is Yours, Your Home is Mine, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
POST-PRODUCTION, Galleria Continua, San Gimigniano, Italy

2000 My Home is Yours, Your Home is Mine, Rodin Gallery, Seoul, Korea
Leaving the Island, PICAF, Pusan Metropolitan Museum of Arts, Busan, Korea
Museum_City Project, Fukuoka, Japan
City_Vision: 2000 Media_City Seoul, Seoul, Korea
Construction in Process 2000, Bydgoszcz, Poland
Text & Subtext, LaSalle SIA-Earl Lu Gallery, Singapore
From Here to There, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany

1999 Asian Exhibition, Mattress Factory Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, U.S.A.
Media in Residence, Art Center Seoul, Korea
No Parking, Artsonje Center, Seoul, Korea
Phobia, Ilmin Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea

1998 Food, Clothing and Shelter, Seoul Metropolitan Fine Arts Museum, Seoul, Korea
Personal Touch, Art in General, New York, U.S.A.
Sites of Desire: 1st International Taipei Biennial, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan

■ MAIN COMMISSIONED PROJECTS

2007 BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK
2003 Cite International des Arts, Paris, France
2000 Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany
2000 Museum_City Project, Fukuoka, Japan
1999 Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, P.A., U.S.A.
1997 Art/Omi Artists in Residency, New York, U.S.A

Cho Haeyoung

 Although photography is still a new genre in Korea, over the recent years Korea has produced some internationally acclaimed artists. Names such as Bae, Bien-U, Koo, Bohn Chang and Kim Atta have become familiar to both the Korean and international collectors. These artists have contributed considerably in transforming the fundamental contemporary photographic tendencies of Korea.

 Like all Korean art forms that developed over the course of many generations the original influence was received in an indirect method, in other words it was forced upon the nation through the control of another culture and the evolvement was not in accordance with the will of the Korean people. Until the beginning of the 20th century, Korea had limited exposure to the outside world and it was only then, that Korea opened its ports to foreign countries. As a result developments in photography at the time were basic, consisting of portrait images and documentations.

 During the Japanese occupation, the Japanese amateur photographic competitions and the 1958 exhibition “Family of Man” were the most influential events and they affected many photographers infatuated with realism. The interesting fact is that this tendency continued until the 1980’s. So even after independence, aesthetical photography that we know of today did not actually exist.

 Transitions in contemporary Korean photography did not occur until the latter part of the 1980’s and it is only then that photography progressed, moving away from the stereotyped nude images, documentations, in addition to other photographic forms based on realism. The change is owed much to a group of emerging new photographers, who set the tendencies in this field for generations that followed.

 Today, the field of photography has become versatile in terms of artists and their methods of expression, with funds from different channels, and other introduced extensively by the central government of Korea. As a result the nation soon experienced a renaissance of photography.

 The last 10 years has seen Korean photography expand actively to establish exchanges with international art organizations. An exhibition of contemporary Korean photography was organized for the Houston FotoFest in the year 2000. This exhibition was the first to actually represent Korea as a nation, in front of many internationally acclaimed curators. Until then, only a few artists represented their works internationally through solo exhibitions.

 Recently contemporary Korean photography has been shown in Denmark (Odense Photographic Festival), Australia (ACP Sidney) and in Germany. This international phenomenon has allowed more people to study and expose themselves outside Korea. Another factor which has enabled Korean photography to progress is the increase of exhibitions on renowned photographic works by foreign artists such as Thomas Ruff and Kandida Höfer, showing in Seoul.  

 Korea still has a long way to go as the majority of Korean photographers are largely distanced from the main flow of international photography. The issue that we are presently confronted concerns finding specialists who can bridge the gap between Korean and international photographic scenes. This is crucial and high in demand. Similarly, it is important for international specialists in the field of photography and exhibitions, to have an open mind, whilst taking an interest in different cultures so that Korean works can also be considered as part of their promotional venue.

The Photographic Works of Kim Atta

 If the photograph of Bae Bien-U is a subjective interpretation of trees, and if Koo Bohn Chang’s is a painterly experimentation using the camera, then how can one sum up the photographic works of Kim Atta? With the precision coming from his engineering background, Kim Atta is a master at manipulating his “byproducts” technically. His photographs are his subjective view on life’s philosophy and the name “Atta” in itself describes his outlook on life and art.

 “Atta” is the photographer’s philosophy condensed into one word, meaning “myself” (“a”) simultaneously as insinuating all that is beyond the subjective self, ”another person” (“ta”).

 Although Kim, Atta did not study photography academically, his interest began from his youth. He enjoyed experimenting with the camera as a tool and in his college years, he took abstract images.  This developed into taking pictures of people with different backgrounds and time spans.

 Kim Atta’s inspiration comes mainly from the concept of interconnectedness in Zen Buddhism as clearly depicted in his early works where he makes a direct, primary interpretation of this conception. He is also influenced by the writings of the German philosopher, Martin Heidegger and the ideas on transcendence stressed by Russian-Armenian mystic G.I. Gurdjieff.

 Despite the fact that Kim Atta is not a practicing Buddhist, he uses the prevalence of Buddhist iconography and concepts in his work. In his early works this phenomenon is clearly evident but over the course of several years, his work changed considerably. The themes of interconnectedness and ephemeral reality remains present in the photographs, yet the method he uses to resolve his subject matters have become highly refined and almost too polished.

 His mastery in long camera exposures and layering of different human images, create unusual almost uncomfortable effects. When standing in front of Kim Atta’s photograph, one cannot help but become mesmerized. Not because the image is aesthetically pleasing to the eye but because the subject matter is often intriguing, going beyond anyone’s imagination.

 Kim Atta’s photographs are certainly original and interesting. At times they appear like visual sculptures. From laying naked bodies down on open fields to placing them in transparent plexiglas boxes, to sculpting icons with ice, the ideas and conceptions are definitely beyond what we are familiar with.

 Kim Atta has gained international recognition and his work is collected widely by an international audience. He was the first photographer chosen to represent Korea in the 25^th Sao Paulo Biennale, in 2003. His work has been exhibited in the USA, Germany, Singapore, Korea and many more countries around the world.

CHO Hyeyoung