Hello, Stranger

Wednesday, September 5, 2012 - 17:30

Exhibition Overview

‘Hello, Stranger’ introduces contemporary artworks of 7 Korean artists who have participated in a residency program at the Art Studio of National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea. The Art Studio and the Korean Cultural Office selects about 40 works, including painting, photography, video, installation, which express the creativity of Korean contemporary art. This exhibition will provide valuable opportunity to see artistic excellence and share the deep contemplation of Korean contemporary artists, who are eternal ‘strangers’ wandering out of the isolated peninsula.

Hello, Stranger is presented by Korean Cultural Office and the Art Studio of National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea.

Noah Ryu, Nighttime, 73x91cm, Oil on Canvas, 2012

Noah Ryu, Nighttime, 73x91cm, Oil on Canvas, 2012

Exhibition Introduction

The Changdong and Goyang National Art Studio, run by MOCA (National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea), have functioned as places of creative meeting and interchange accommodating approximately 500 artists from 50 countries for the last 10 years. New relationships made by momentary contacts have been the groundwork for artists to consolidate their creative capability and stimulate them. The exhibitions held at partner museums with the National Art Studio in Korea and overseas have also functioned as a counter of artistic communication. Our 6th special exhibition Hello, Stranger initiated with the common aim from Changdong & Goyang National Art Studio and the Korean Cultural Office to introduce Korean contemporary art actively.

Yunho Kim, A Thousand Different Buses which I Met in Berlin no.1

Yunho Kim, A Thousand Different Buses which I Met in Berlin no.1

Art residency, a microcosm of diverse society, is like a roamers’ container car to the artist. Different to the past where people were strictly cautious of each other, the gravitation of attraction has become a virtue and strategy. Nowadays people mix with each other, exchange different languages, share customs and combine different rules. However, confronting the difference becomes an opportunity to recognise the difference between others and at the same time it brings out discrimination that emphasises consolidation and introspection. In Australia, which is composed of various kinds of races, languages and cultural backgrounds, ‘Multiculturalism’ has constantly been a controversial issue since it was adopted as its immigration policy. Recently, Korea has also become an intercultural society with the increased number of long stay foreigners and invigoration of transnational enterprises. Our romantic imagination of cultural integration requires revision with a stronger sense of self-awareness and self-reflection.

Hello, Stranger introduces our studio’s artists who delve into the problems of communication, relations, language, cultural code, tastes, individuals and society within these diverse spaces. The artists construct and deconstruct their unique perspectives on other cultures with sound and performance, and sometimes make metaphors with visual installations. They try to cross the boundaries and seek the possibility of communication and also reveal the fantasy of exotic culture and the languor in social phenomenon obsessed through homogenisation. The artists' various perspectives indicate complex interests tangled with intercultural and multicultural discourse and suggest positive possibility through literature and philosophical approaches. This exhibition will provide valuable opportunity to see artistic excellence and share the deep contemplation of Korean contemporary artists, who are eternal ‘strangers’ wandering away from pre-existing ideas, customs and traditions.