South Korea and Japan
By Reuben Keehan
Artlines | 1-2018 | | Editor: Stephanie Kennard
South Korea boasts one of the most comprehensive infrastructures for contemporary art in the Asia Pacific region. A mature commercial sector and a range of national, state, municipal and private museums are complemented by a healthy proliferation of independent art spaces — from the corporate to the artist-run — and a high-profile trio of international biennials in Seoul, Busan and Gwangju. Launched in 1995, the Gwangju Biennale is one of the longest-running and most respected events of its type in Asia. The significance of its founding — as a memorial to the massacre of democracy activists in that city during the 1980 uprising — cannot be overstated. A sprawling Asian Cultural Center also opened recently at the site of the violent conflict.
Politics and history are never far from the surface in recent Korean art. While the world focuses on its northern neighbour, South Korean politics has had a turbulent 18 months. Towards the end of 2016, outrage at the revelations of extraordinary corruption associated with President Park Geun-hye led to her impeachment and the fall of her government. Artists played an active role in public protests, with thousands having appeared on a secret blacklist drawn up by the previous administration.
An installation by Yoshihide Otomo, at the Sapporo International Art Festival, Japan Above Dongdaemun Market, Seoul / Photograph: Reuben Keehan
The role of politics in Japanese art is arguably less pronounced, but artists continue to explore a number of pressing social concerns, including the presence of US military bases on Okinawa at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions, and the ongoing effects of the Fukushima disaster. Like South Korea, Japan has a robust contemporary art infrastructure, even if dwindling government funding sometimes tempers the willingness of museums to present art addressing difficult issues for fear of alienating political patrons. Driven by trade and diplomatic imperatives, Japanese institutions are engaging more closely with South-East Asian contemporary art, and the dialogue between artists, particularly around questions of the legacy of imperialism, will be difficult to ignore.
One remarkable recent development has been the growing number of biennials, triennials and other large-scale art festivals, with scores established across Japan over the past three years. How sustainable such event-focused programming will be in a country whose institutions have long suffered the effects of a flailing economy remains to be seen. Nonetheless, longstanding projects such as the Yokohama Triennale (est. 2001), and relative newcomers like the Aichi Trienniale (est. 2010), the Setouchi Triennale (est. 2010) and the Sapporo International Art Festival (est. 2014), each presented strong editions over 2016–17.
Reuben Keehan, Curator, Asian and Pacific Art, QAGOMA.
