On December 21, SooJin Lee, co-curator of the“Utopia Saved” exhibition, will give a lecture on “Korean Contemporary Art”.

An art historian and assistant professor at Hongik University in South Korea, SooJin will tell viewers about the key movements, figures, and problems in Korean contemporary art since the 1980s. We will discuss the rise in democratization and anti-modernism, the appearance of a new generation of artists (including Lee Bul), and the globalization of the scene in the 1990s.

The work of major artists and curators obviously cannot be discussed outside of historical context, and thus part of the lecture will be devoted to the history of the Republic of Korea. Korean contemporary art, and foremost the work of Lee Bul,is in large part devoted to an analysis of the changes that occurred in society, reflections on the growing disappointments during South Korea’s urbanization boom under the dictatorship of Park Chung-hee (1961-1979), and the era’s obsession with the idea of monuments symbolizing economic, political, and social progress.

This meeting is part of Manege’s supplementary programme to “Utopia Saved”, the first solo exhibition in Russia of South Korean artist Lee Bul.

The online lecture will begin at 18:30 and last for 1.5 hours.

The discussion will be conducted over Zoom. Participation is free, but you must first register and install the Zoom platform. An hour before the meeting, you will receive a link by e-mail (sent to the address indicated at registration) through which you can join the conference. You will be able to address questions to SooJin throughout the conversation.

You can access the simultaneous interpretation on zoom by clicking the "translate" icon on the bottom panel.