By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter

Rising artists from different parts of Korea have gathered together for Arko Art Center's new exhibition, which recently opened in Seoul but will also travel to Gwangju and Busan.

The ``Arko Artist-Center Network: Decentered'' is an exhibition of 21 new artists from around the country, in an attempt to discover and introduce fresh talent.

Decentered seeks the role of a ``decentered art museum,'' serving as a mediator between various artists and the audience.

 

Arko Art Center, Gwangju Museum of Art and Busan Museum of Art collaborated on the project. Curators from each institution recommended five to eight local contemporary artists from the region, and whittled it down to 21.

``In this exhibition, we endeavored to discover new local artists through networks formed among local public art museums, with the aim of decentralizing the art scene, and tried to attain fairness by basing our selections not on age but the point of their actual debut. We are also attempting an organic and cubic connection among the regions by touring the exhibition,'' said Kim Byuldabi, collaborating curator at Arko Art Center, in the exhibition essay.

When the exhibition ends at Arko Art Center on Jan. 31, it will transfer to Gwangju Museum of Art, Feb. 5 to March 14, and then, Busan Museum of Art, June 6 to July 7. The form and content will be tweaked slightly for each exhibition, to reflect unique regional characteristics.

Kim said the curators also decided to categorize the artists by theme, not region, in order to show their works equally. Gallery 1 features works under the title ``Cognizance,'' dealing with the context of decentralization, while Gallery 2's title is ``Existence.''

``Our efforts for decentralization and equalization by way of adopting this format is our gesture of reception towards diversity and multiplicity that overcomes all centralism,'' Kim said.

Lee Kwang-kee's ``A View with the Earth'' questions people's perceptions, while Jin Si-yon's ``Wave'' captures movement, time and change in video images.

At Gallery 2, Lee Ye Leen's ``34rd St.'' photograph explores the space between reality and fiction, while Choi Sung-hoon's ``APT 1'' is an installation of LCD monitors in varying sizes. In ``Big Candy from Grandma,'' Ahn Tae-young takes inspiration from his childhood, remembering how his grandmother would give him colorful candies.

Kim noted there are existing perceptions and aesthetic standards that gauge beauty with urban sentimentality.

``The exhibition aims to upturn our conventional understanding, acknowledging the difference between regions through decentralization, rather than simply accepting other locales. Our goal is to observe the multilateral rationale of `regionality,' in order to overcome indifference to others living in alien lands,'' Kim said.

Visiting hours at Arko Art Center are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tickets are 2,000 won for adults and 1,000 won for children. To get there, get off Hyehwa Station line 4 exit 2. Visit www.arkoartcenter.or.kr.

cathy@koreatimes.co.kr