Gimhongsok
Good Labor Bad Art
March 7–May 26, 2013
PLATEAU, Samsung Museum of Art
Samsung Life Insurance Building
Taepyeongno2-Ga, Jung-Gu,
Seoul, Korea 100-716
Hours: Tuesday–Sunday 10am–6pm
Closed on Mondays
T +82 2 2259 7726
PLATEAU, Samsung Museum of Art presents a solo exhibition of Gimhongsok titled Good Labor Bad Art, examining the artist’s unique oeuvre marked by its juxtaposition of acute criticism of reality and shrewd sense of humor, from 7 March to 26 May 2013. The exhibition hopes to reflect PLATEAU’s continuing commitment to broadening the discourse of Korean contemporary art by introducing its most controversial and dynamic developments.
Focusing on the inevitable consequences of culture translation within the globalized capitalist system, Gimhongsok has consistently explored the issues of translation and appropriation, as well as the public and private, through a wide variety of medium. In this exhibition, the artist proposes the ethical politics of contemporary art practice encountered through such process as its central agenda, as he extends its ethical boundaries, and the critical question centering the “subject of the artwork” when involving a diverse range of hired labor in place of the artist during production. The new lecture performance, Good Critique, Bad Critique, Strange Critique (2013), in particular, will focus on the process of social consensus between the artist and others in the transaction of intellectual labor and financial compensation by implementing the practice of art criticism as part of the work itself.
Constantly shifting between the boundaries of reality and fiction, Gimhongsok attempts to emphasize the “in-between” existence as it is reflected in the medium of his sculptures and the position of the performers in the exhibition. His direct yet unconventional strategies of examining the contemporary art practice will not only provoke a sense of simultaneous discomfort and curiosity, but also constantly stimulate the limits of our own perception.
Curated by Soyeon Ahn, Chief Curator, PLATEAU, Samsung Museum of Art, Korea
PLATEAU, Samsung Museum of Art was first inaugurated in 1999 as Rodin Gallery, presenting its permanent installation of Auguste Rodin’s monumental masterpieces The Gates of Hell and The Burghers of Calais, and has established itself as one of the central institutions in the Korean contemporary art scene.
In May 2011, Rodin Gallery reopened its doors under the new name, PLATEAU, aspiring to a broader scope of program, as well as higher artistic grounds for artists and patrons alike. With the new name, PLATEAU expresses our renewed commitment to embracing the dynamic developments in Korean and international contemporary art, in continuation with our permanent display of the Rodin masterpieces.
Press contact:
Lee Kyoung Ock, Public Relations Team: T +82-2-2014-6552 / kyoungock81.lee [at] samsung.com
