By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter

Print and photography are often overlooked in the Korean contemporary art scene. The upcoming Seoul International Print Photo Art Fair (SIPA 2009) hopes to shine the spotlight on print and photography, especially works by Korean artists.

The SIPA opens Sept. 12 and will run through Sept. 16 at the Hangaram Design Museum, Hangaram Museum and V Gallery, Seoul Arts Center.

Hwang Dal-seung, chairman of the Korea Print Photography Promotion Association, said this year's art fair will tackle the issue of technical replication in the print and photography genre.

``What is the meaning of the value of the arts that exist not as one pure original but as many?" he said. ``Thus what is the genre for the arts that are classified as an edition? SIPA2009, now holding its 5th event, is opening an exhibition of print and photography with the idea of reproduction or multiple editions as its superior concept. The print genre is the first medium to make technical reproduction possible and because of this, diverse images and graphic products have been represented in the market.''

 

예술의 가치가 순수한 오리지널 한가지로 존재하지 않고 많이 존재한다는 의미는 무엇이가? 이와같이 예술에 있어서 출판으로 분류되고 있는 장르가 무었인지? 제5회 SIPA2009 전이 엄청난 컨셉에 의한 다양한 출판과 아이디어의 재생산으로 판화와 사진전시가 열리고 있다. 판화장르는 기술적인 재생산의 가능성을 만들고 다양한 이미지와 그래픽 상품들이 시장에서 재생산 되여 온것 때문에 최고의 매체로 취급되고있다.



Hwang hopes the SIPA 2009 will become the discussion forum for this issue by bringing together various types of artworks from all over the world.

SIPA was organized to promote and develop printmaking and photography in Korea. This year's event features 43 galleries that are mostly from Korea, with a handful from Japan, France, Germany, the U.S., Italy and Singapore. It is much smaller than last year's event, which featured 63 participating galleries.

Visitors will be able find works by Pablo Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein, Damien Hirst, Takashi Murakami, Yayoi Kusama and Bill Viola at the various gallery booths of the art fair.

Aside from the galleries, the SIPA 2009 will also offer several special exhibitions. ``Visual Intersection.kr.nl'' features artists from this year's guest country, the Netherlands. Participating artists are Eelco Brand, Ellen Kooi, Erwin Olaf, Martine Stig, Phillip Provily, Popel and Ruud van Empel.

Photographer Yoon Joo-yeong will show off his series of photographs of mothers throughout Korea in the exhibition ``The Mothers.''

Another special exhibition will be the Ex-libris exhibition, which is being hosted by SIPA for the first time. Ex-libris, which means ``from books'' in Latin, are bookplates that indicate ownership of books. The Korea Ex-libris Association and Dong Sang Bang Gallery will show a variety of bookplates from all over the world from their own collections, as well as exquisite Korean ones.

For the fair's public art project, Australian artist Jayne Dyer will be showing ``The Book Project," featuring installations filled with books. She is interested in the relationship between people and books, as well as issues of translation and communication in today's globalized society.

The SIPA also selected several rising Asian artists to showcase new works. Japanese photographer Nabuhiro Nakanishi was chosen for the Asia BELT Artist Project, while artists Kim So-hee and Cho Hyun-sook were picked for the BELT Artist Project for Korea.

For the duration of the art fair, SIPA is also organizing a children's art program, in collaboration with German art supply maker Faber-Castell. It includes a guided tour and a special art class to be conducted in Korean and English.

The art fair is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tickets are 10,000 won. Visit www.sippa.org (Korean and English). To get there, get off Nambu Bus Terminal Station line 3, exit 5, and go on green bus 12 or 4429.

cathy@koreatimes.co.kr