Disturbants of land, breath, sound: Aesthetics of Post-colonial culture

Director, Chief Curator: Eunseon Park (Listen to the City)

Cooperate in curatorship: Daham Park, Yasmine Ostendorf

Venue: B1, B2 at the Coreana Museum of Art, space*c

Period: 3rd of December, 2022 - 31st of December, 2022

Opening Hours: 11am - 6pm, Monday to Saturday, Closed on Sunday

Admission: Free

Supported by Arts Council Korea(ARKO)

“The imagination will be suppressed by the power of generalization and normalization of globalization.” (Arjun Appadurai, 1996)

This exhibition shares the imagination of South Korean, Hongkongese, Mexican, and Thai artists who are against cultural imperialism. Those countries experienced colonialism; their language and culture had been oppressed by the imperialist countries. The third world had tried to recover the culture and language after the 2nd world war. However, the post-colonial cities had faced the emergence of global neoliberalism and neo-colonialism even before conceptualizing their identity.

Neoliberalism can be characterized as liberalizing market regulation and downsizing welfare. Neo-colonialism refers to multinational speculative capital invading one culture that downgrades cultural diversity and authenticity. Only profitable cultures and history can survive in a neoliberal society. Most postcolonial cities including South Korea, have been faced normalization of culture influenced by multinational corporations and mainstream culture. Moreover, as the speculative real estate business expands in the cities, the geographical, spatial identity also fades away. Gentrification evicts people and the culture and history of the space.

Cities produce communal space and cultivate culture. The land produces life and food. The land produces life and food. Nevertheless, multinational corporations and real estate businesses do not respect the city’s authenticity, culture, or value of land. In this context, the efforts to explore and preserve the authenticity of the cities become the most radical practice. This exhibition introduces creative artists and art collectives who struggle to find their own identities in their cities. Those artists actively explore their cultures; food, art, and sound. In doing so, they advocate cultural diversity and articulate the authenticity of the space.