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네이버 공유 카카오 공유 트위터 공유 페이스북 공유

Asian Art Strives to Reveal its Potential to European Audiences

The summer of 2007: Amidst extreme weather conditions, ranging between drought and flooding, and abnormal temperature variations, a series of high-profile art exhibitions was presented at various sites around the European continent. The large-scale art exhibitions included the Venice Biennale, a biannual art exhibition held in Venice, Italy (June 10-November 23); Art Basel, recognized as the world’s leading annual art event, presented in Basel, Switzerland (June 13-17); Kassel a, a contemporary art exhibition staged in Kassel, in western Germany, once every five years, that is known for being an indicator of current and future trends of contemporary art (June 16-September 23); and Sculpture Project Munster, a public art exhibition held once every decade, in Munster in western Germany (June 17-September 30).
Apart from the national pavilions at the Venice Biennale, it is natural for the works of Asian artists to be selected for art exhibitions and related events in the West, since art enthusiasts are invariably intrigued by the unusual and unfamiliar. It is, however, regretful that not a single Korean artist was invited to Kassel a, which featured the works of some 120 artists from 40 countries around the world, including China (8), India (4), Japan (3), and Israel (2), as well as one artist each from Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Pakistan. Whatever the case, this situation does not reflect upon the capability of these individual artists, or those from Korea. On the other hand, it is worthy of note that this series of art events includes a major exhibition of contemporary Asian art, “Thermocline of Art - New Asian Waves” (June 15-October 21), which is being presented at ZKM (Center for Art and Media) in Karlsruhe, in southern Germany. Under a theme of contemporary Asian art as seen from the eyes of Asians, this large-scale exhibition seeks to demonstrate that contemporary Asian art is on the verge of realizing its artistic potential by breaking throu-gh the thermocline, an oceanographic term for a of water that separates warmer surface waters from colder waters at deeper depths.


Rhee Wonil, a former Asian art curator for the Gwangju Biennale, is serving as artistic director of this exhibition. About 250 works by some 110 artists from 20 Asian countries have been selected by Lee and curators from each country that is represented at the ZKM Museum of Contemporary Art. In line with the exhibition theme, priority was placed on the showing of works by up-and-coming artists, who had yet to make a name for themselves. In presenting the works of 27 Korean artists, Korea is a cornerstone of the exhibition, along with China, with the works of 27 artists, and Japan, which features the works of 17 artists/teams. An interesting point is that only one Israeli artist, as compared to several artists from Israel featured at the exhibition in Karlsruhe, had been invited to Kassel a. This would seem to indicate a considerable disparity in the thoughts and preferences of those involved with the selection process of the particular exhibitions.
As for the realization of an “Asian art boom” in Europe, through the works shown at these world-leading art exhibitions, it could be said that the results have fallen somewhat short of expectations. For example, the visitor count stood at about 15,000 as of August 14, 2007, a less than overwhelming turnout despite extensive advertising in art publications and media. Indeed, the walls of the European art sector might be higher than expected. In particular, since the basic structure of such art exhibitions are determined by the eyes of curators and art specialists, it is necessary for a long-term approach to be adopted, based on efforts to steadily step up Korea’s presence at these events.

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