Geumgang Art

If you enter the exhibition hall on first floor of Ilmin Museum of Art located in Jongno, Seoul, you will be greeted by an enormous dollar bill on the central wall made of dots.

On a closer look, they aren’t just any dots, but tiny triangles that represent mountains. Nobody’s counting, of course, but there are a total of 12,000 triangles, standing for the 12,000 peaks of Mt. Geumgang.

The “Jindalae Document 02: visual poetry Mt. Geumgang” display from Kim Kyung-sun’s “New Geumgang Map” gives an ironic turn to the beauty of Mt. Geumgang and capitalism.

It is a piece that exposes the contradictory reality of the most hard-core socialist place on earth using the most hard-core capitalist currency on earth- the dollar.

This display is the first entry since the transformation of Dong-A Art Festival Contest from artwork contest to display planning contest. “Jindalae,” composed of thirteen young visual artists attempts to express its theme: “Singing the words of history’s irony” through texts, images, graphics, installations, and other various media.

On a stool-like table on the floor of the display area are thirteen books. The uncomfortable looking table represents the uncomfortable sightseeing of Mt. Geumgang imposed with sundry prohibitions. Nine books stand for the nine artists who’ve been, and four blank ones for the artists who haven’t.

Also, there are 13 obstructed binoculars posted on the wall. It is an objet d’art that speaks for the infinite unexplored places within the mountains of Geumgang.

The ground floor shows pieces that are directly linked to Mt. Geumgang and the process of bookmaking, whereas the second floor explains the artists’ interest into the lands beyond Mt. Geumgang.

Kim Soo-jung’s “Software Kaleidoscope” installed at the entrance swirls visitors and surrounding images into delightful moving patterns.

The display consists of Kim Doo-seop’s “Heaven, Earth, Human” that shows a human shape and Chinese characters, Min Byung-geol’s screen with digital calligraphy, Lee Gi-seop’s “North Star Story” with 12 smiley characters and 12 words connected together, Kim Jae-hoon’s “Obscurity” that is an illustration of a muscled female body, and others. Choi Byung-il’s “Vision Machine” gives visitors the experience of a small space turning into a clock, and if you peer inside the machine automatically gives you the time.

Art critic Choi Beom says, “This exhibition is attractive because its approach is neither too heavy nor too light for its topic. Even while dealing with the theme of Korea’s division, it avoids the rigidity of ideology and is refreshingly honest.”

There is a special discussion session with the artists on the third floor of the art gallery at 1:00 p.m. on July 1. The exhibition runs until July 12—the fee is 1,000 won. 02-2020-2061

Mi-Seok Koh mskoh119@donga.com