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네이버 공유 카카오 공유 트위터 공유 페이스북 공유

ARCO International Contemporary Art Fair

ARCO 2007, one of the world's top five international fair of this kind was held in Madrid, Spain on February 15-19. This year, Korea was selected as ARCO's guest nation, the first such honor for an Asian country.

"The highest-ever sales amount for Korean galleries participating in overseas art fairs." "A total of 319 works of Korean contemporary art sold for 2.4 billion won." These are the highlights of the Korean galleries that participated in the 2007 ARCO International Contemporary Art Fair, which was held in Spain from February 14-19.
The ARCO organizing committee and art experts believed that the works of the young Korean artists on display there demonstrated their keen understanding of international sentiments, in addition to featuring dynamic energy and unique characteristics. In light of such an evaluation, an enhanced international sensibility and competitiveness of Korea's contemporary art sector seem to have contributed much to the record sales performance.
Indeed, there was reason enough for attention to be paid to the participating Korean galleries even before the opening of the art fair, which attracted an estimated 200,000 visitors according to the event organizing committee. Spanish newspapers and TV networks continuously featured activities related to Korea, which had been selected as the guest country of 2007 ARCO, as the first Asian country to be so honored. One television network introduced the Korean booth at the ARCO exhibition venue and aired a feature about Korean cuisine, showing a Korean bulgogi restaurant in downtown Madrid. In addition, Korea's President Roh Moo-hyun, who was in Spain on an official state visit, attended the opening ceremony, while the countless Korean national flags and ARCO publicity banners, which announced Korea as the guest country, might have caused you to wonder if you had been somehow transported to Korea.

While the 14 participating Korean art galleries, which occupied a centrally situated booth area of the IFEMA (Institucion Ferial de Madrid) exhibition venue reserved for the guest country, were busily ringing up sales and running out of items to display, the downtown district of Madrid was abuzz with Korean cultural performances and activities.
The artistic and cultural events that were presented to celebrate Korea's selection as the 2007 ARCO guest country included a "Korean Traditional Shaman Rite: Gut," performed by Korean shaman Kim Keum-hwa, at Matadero Madrid on the afternoon of February 10. About 500 Spanish viewers were intrigued by the never-before-seen performance, which was staged in a cavernous cultural venue that had been converted from an abandoned slaughterhouse.
Spanish journalists hurriedly made their way to the exhibition space, Telefónica, located in the center of Gran Via, a popular shopping district in Madrid, on the afternoon of February 13, to cover the opening ceremony of an exhibition of the works of Paik Nam June, the world-renowned media artist. Throughout the exhibition period, more than 1,000 visitors each day stopped by to view the selected works of Paik, which are known for expressing Korean or Eastern sentiments and re-creating historical figures of Korea


▲ The Korean booth area, where galleries from Korea displayed the works of Korea's contemporary artists, was conveniently located in the center of IFEMA.

Kim Keum-hwa's shaman performance and the Paik Nam June exhibition had been organized as part of the efforts to introduce the richness of Korean culture and art to Spanish audiences and to complement Korea's participation as the guest country of the 2007 ARCO International Contemporary Art Fair. Last year, when Korea was selected as the guest country for 2007 ARCO, which is one of the five major international art fairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and the Korea Foundation decided to capitalize on this occasion as an opportunity to make Korea better known to the people of Spain, and agreed to extend comprehensive support to this endeavor.
The Korea Foundation was responsible for providing support to the performing arts events. "Korean Traditional Shaman Rite: Gut," a contemporary dance performance of the Eun Me Ahn Dance Company, Uhuhboo Project Band's concert of indie music, and a chamber music concert by the Ensemble TIMF were selected as the performance events to celebrate Korea's participation as the guest country of ARCO.
The selections were based on a principle of showcasing the dynamic vibrancy of contemporary Korea, along with its longstanding tradition and history, to coincide with the "Corea Ahora"(Korea Now) theme for the guest-country events. Based on the comments of a major Spanish daily, which stated that Korea managed to bring two pillars, of tradition and the modern, to ARCO, in its introduction of Ahn Eun Me, Kim Keum-hwa, and Paik Nam June in a feature article, it would be safe to say that the selected activities were well received.
The Uhuhboo Project Band concert was staged at La Casa Encendida, which means "Lighted House," on February 13, while the Eun Me Ahn Dance Company performed at Circulo de Bellas Artes, on February 14-15. The Ensemble TIMF presented a concert at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia on the evening of February 26. The ensemble serves as a kind of publicity ambassador for the Tongyeong International Music Festival, which is held in the hometown of Yun Isang, the distinguished Korean composer who maintained close relations with Spain.


▲ IFEMA, the exhibition venue of 2007 ARCO

In addition to performances, a wide variety of events, such as a photography exhibition of traditional Korean design, a literary forum, and special Korean film screenings, was held throughout the city of Madrid, thus providing local residents with a taste of Korea's culture and people.
This variety of activities, although lasting only briefly, aroused noticeable curiosity about Korea among the Spanish people. It is true, however, that Korean culture and art remain in large part a curiosity to the people of Spain, who in general are quite unfamiliar with Korea. This reality was apparent when Professor Kim Jung-wha, the Korean commissioner of the ARCO event, during an interview on a local talk show, was first asked to describe where Korea was located.
In a similar vein, the president of El Mundo, one of the three leading dailies in Spain, referred to Korea as the "Land of Morning Calm" in his paper's special feature on the occasion of the Korean President's state visit to Spain. And, many figures of the Spanish cultural and art circles said they did not know about or were surprised by the advanced state of Korea, when they were exposed for the first time to various genres of Korean performing arts at the guest-country events.
This unfamiliarity with Korea seems to also have been reflected in the prices of the art works sold during the art fair. Although well received, most of the works were sold at relatively low prices because the galleries and artists are so little known among the international art sector. In this regard, the participating galleries all pointed out an urgent need to pioneer and explore world markets to broaden the international recognition of Korean artists. Indeed, the successful sales results and favorable responses to the cultural activities at the 2007 ARCO have d positive momentum for the continued efforts to make Korea better known to the people around the world.



Moon Sung-ki
skmoon@kf.or.kr
Director Culture and Arts Department 		 

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