Muse London:The 4th UK Korean Artists Exhibition

16 December 2011 – 21 January 2012

The Korean Cultural Centre UK presents the 4th Annual Exhibition of contemporary art by UK Korean Artists.

 Focusing on video works, ‘Muse London’ brings together the exciting work of six artists, all living and working in London.

 Participating artists:

Eemyun KANG, Seokyeong KANG, EE, Wonwoo LEE, Sean ROH and Kiwoun SHIN

 From 16 December 2011 to 21 January 2012 the exhibition MUSE LONDON brings a showcase of Contemporary Media Art to the KCC.

 The exhibition dwells more specifically on the artists’ interior world as seen through the lens of a foreign world city. The artworks give highly personal reports of the ‘London experience’ told through interviews, documentary snippets, exotic fantasy, paranoia and studied reflections.

 The exhibition has been guest curated by Jeremy AKERMAN and managed Ji Hye HONG (KCC UK).

 I.The participating artists for the exhibition ‘MUSE LONDON: THE 4th UK KOREAN ARTISTS EXHIBITION’ are, in alphabetical order:

 1.EE is currently studying MA Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art and Design. <Maniac> video clip presents a unique persona of this husband-and-wife duo. With the element of kitsch and pop culture of its shiny and amusing surface, EE delivers the explosion and clash in its own way of irony and humour.

  2.Eemyun KANG completed Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art at the Royal Academy of Arts, London. She launched the interviews with artists to share diverse idea and approaches on the idea of Mystic Island in London. The video clip brings a poetic rhythm made by layers of interview. This intriguing corresponding is later developed to various forms of art. Her canvasses capture the imaged landscape that continues endlessly.   

 3.Seokyeong KANG is currently undertaking an MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art in London. By reshoot in the space of KCC, the mirror-like simulacrum leads the audience to come across with the ethereal traces of memory.  Her formal interest in emptiness, blank space and emotional movement is coupled with an intuitive understanding of leftovers such as leathers, threads and fabric.   

 4.Wonwoo LEE is currently studying an MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art, London. His practice is concerned with spatial interventions, transforming objects and phenomenon which is related in physical and social realm. He focuses on making actual happenings that can change the given situations turned into imaginary and uncanny situations. <A drummer’s room> is stemmed from the personal experience of spatial change by occupation of sound.

 5.Sean ROH is studying an MFA in Media at Slade School of Fine Art, University College London. With his witty manipulation of ordinary objects that found in everyday life, he makes a stage of storytelling. Based on his series of photographs, the ordinary life and episodes in London is told in first point of view. Every scene speaks volume for itself.

 6.Kiwoun SHIN completed MFA Fine Art at Goldsmiths College in 2010. The visual analysis of the existence expands the his experiments from grinding to evaporating.   <Missing time never exist> and <News becomes entertainment> is a record while a cup of wine was evaporated. While he tries to emphasise and make the scenes more dramatic and theatrical with music, Kiwoun explores the political layer and visual icons of media and eventually questions the visual reality.  

 II.Guest Curator: Jeremy AKERMAN

Jeremy is an artist and editor of artists’ writing. He is an independent curator with a deep enthusiasm for Korean art in particular. <MUSE LONDON> is Jeremy’s second Exhibition at the KCC with the emerging young Korean artists.  

 III.The Korean Cultural Centre UK      

Director: WON Yonggi    

The Korean Cultural Centre UK (KCCUK) was opened by the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in January 2008 under the aegis of the London Embassy of the Republic of Korea. The role of the KCCUK is to further enhance friendship, amity and understanding between Korea and the UK through cultural and educational activities.

 From the KCCUK＇s central London location near Trafalgar Square, its dedicated cultural team work to further develop cultural projects, introduce new opportunities to expand their Korean events programme in the UK, and encourage cultural exchange. Facilities at the centre include a gallery, small theatre, lecture room, a multimedia centre and library.

Bye Bye Kitty!!! – Beyond kitsch, kawaii and otaku in Japanese Contemporary Art: An illustrated talk by David Elliott

Kitsch, otaku (“geek”) and kawaii (cuteness, sometimes super-girly hyper-cuteness) – are all stereotypes frequently attributed to contemporary Japanese culture. It is true to say that Japanese society often embraces such images of itself, and some Japanese artists, such as Takashi Murakami and Kaikai Kiki, respond to, or exploit, these trends, making them even more widespread. Yet is this the whole story? Does this kind of work actually represent the most significant and powerful art being made in Japan today?

David Elliott, founding director of the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, who spent five years in Japan, thinks not. He sees an intensely reflective, self-critical, controversial, even political, spirit within contemporary Japanese art that is less easy to appreciate than the stereotypes but more rewarding to grasp. It was this which led him to curate the successful exhibition Bye, Bye Kitty!!! – Between Heaven and Hell in Contemporary Japanese Art held at the Japan Society in New York earlier this year. This fascinating exhibition concentrated on diverse work by talented young and middle generation Japanese artists, many of whom have not yet been well enough represented on the international art scene.

In this talk, David Elliott will offer an overview of this exhibition and the artists he chose for it, mapping them in the social context of modern and contemporary Japan. Complementing his talk will be a discussion with sociologist and Japanese contemporary art specialist Adrian Favell. Together they will further explore how significant the exhibition is today, reflecting on Japanese aesthetics, social realities and global reactions.

This event is organised in collaboration with TrAIN Research Centre.

17 October 2011 from 6.20pm

The Banqueting Hall (Chelsea College of Art and Design)
16 John Islip Street
London SW1P 4JU

This event is free to attend but booking is essential. To reserve a place, please email your name and the title of the event you would like to attend to event@jpf.org.uk.