State of the Art

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Posts tagged with Korea

Contemporary Art meets Buddhism

November 19, 2013

Ipshita Sen of Saffronart shares a note on the Haein Art Project

Haeinsa Temple, Korea

Haeinsa Temple, Korea. Image Credit: http://haeinart.wordpress.com/about-haeinsa-temple/

New York: Viewing art in non-conventional spaces is always refreshing and gives the viewer an opportunity to engage with and understand the art better.  A Buddhist temple in South Korea is hosting a show of contemporary art in an effort to provide a new perspective and to create an interesting juxtaposition between Buddhism and contemporary art.

The Haeinsa Temple is a 1211 year old shrine nestled in the lush valleys of Gaya-san National Park. The temple is dedicated to the Korean Avantamsaka School of Buddhism and is home to the Tripitaka Koreana, the most complete collection of Buddhist texts, printed on 81,258 wood blocks. The buildings and the blocks were designated by the UNESCO as one of the “most important and complete corpus of Buddhist doctrinal texts in the world”. The layout of the temple is typical of a Korean monastery. Stupas, gates, courtyards, and halls are all aligned along proper axes according to geomantic principles and Buddhist symbols, physically illustrating the process of enlightenment. In fact the entire layout of Haeinsa temple resembles a sailing ship with pagodas as masts.

The year 2011 marked the first contemporary art show at the temple, commemorating the millennial anniversary of the wooden blocks, which were initially engraved, with the intent of protection from the invasion from a northern Dynasty. The ancient blocks were lost in a fire resulting from the invasion.

This year, the Haein Art Project at the temple featured new works by 30 artists from around the world; South Korea, India, U.S, Spain, Italy and Hong Kong. Most of the artists were invited to spend two weeks at the temple and create new works that are related to Buddhist thinking, for the project.

The works were scattered around the grounds of the temple. Indian artist Vibha Galhotra created an installation of white flags at the pathway that lead to the temple gates. The flags represented national flags devoid of color thus attempting to erase the borders of a divided world. Other Indian artists featuring in this project were Sheba Chhachhi, Reena Kallat, Shilpa Gupta and Hema Upadhyay. Another work by South Korean artist duo Mioon involved projections of nature and architectural images that sporadically appear and disappear as though an echo of fullness and emptiness in the viewers mind.

For more information read here.

Krishnamachari’s Curatorial Callings

November 12, 2013

Aaina Bhargava of Saffronart on artist – curator Bose Krishnamachari’s selection as the curator for the Indian Pavilion at Art Stage Singapore 2014, and it’s new feature Platform

London: Singapore’s annual art fair – Art Stage Singapore – is introducing a new feature to its latest edition in 2014, regional platforms for seven participating Asian nations/regions including southeast Asia, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Australia, and India.  Each platform essentially functions as an exhibition showcasing works by artists from each particular region.  Curators have also been regionally selected to create these platforms, with India’s, being curated by the Kochi-Muziris Biennial cofounder and co-curator Bose Krishnamachari.   In a brief, recent, interview he explains his initial approach to the project:

“I will be looking at the works of Indian artists and have to pick six to eight of them through their galleries.”

While his previous large-scale exhibition curatorial project was the Kochi Muziris Biennial, a much more academic and locally contextualized endeavor, the Indian Platform for Art Stage is a “curated sales exhibition,” that aims to exhibit works in a contemporary Asian framework.  This provides an intriguing contrast in terms of audiences who he will be curating for and artists that he will select to represent the Indian contemporary art scene and will contribute to defining the contemporary Asian art scene, the premise upon which Art Stage Singapore seeks to operate. Heralding the motto, “We are Asia,” this event brings together 131 galleries, 75% of which are from Asia Pacific.  Through juxtaposing works by known and emerging artists from various different Asian regions, Platform commits to Art Stage’s attempts to make Singapore a solid and driving force in the Asian art market.  Expanding on the importance of representing a diverse Asia, Lorenzo Rudolf (Founder and fair director) states,

“When we speak about Asia, we cannot speak about an undifferentiated, single Asian contemporary art scene as the region is highly segmented. From a western perspective, there is sometimes limited understanding of the market differentiations within Asia and little depth of knowledge about the individual art markets…This new addition [Platform] will give visitors not only a holistic overview of artistic developments, but also a deeper understanding of contemporary art from Asia Pacific.”

To allow viewers the opportunity to witness this comparative juxtaposition of artworks from different regions, Platform will be exhibited in a non-segregated, museum like format over approximately 20% (or 1800 sq. meters) of the fair exhibition space. The Southeast Asia Platform is to be the largest of the Platforms. These works are to include “site-specific works, interactive installations and innovative conceptually driven works, meant to discuss important topics that address the contemporary society.”  This description holds similar to that of works made for or presented at biennials, particularly site specific works and cutting edge, innovative conceptual works.  Presenting these types of works at an art fair and having this particular exhibition curated by renowned curators such as Krishnamachari who are known for their work at biennials and other non commercial exhibitions, reflects a desire to bring a critical credibility to the fair as well an educational component.

The paradigms that both art fairs and biennials (and other art events) follow seem to be coming closer and closer together, although both institutions have fundamentally different goals.  They are increasingly starting to include educational collateral programs that exist not only to stimulate discourse and raise awareness about contemporary art but also to create a more informed market.  Krishnamachari’s role (and that of other curators for different platforms) will become instrumental in determining which Indian artists are representative of an evolving contemporary Indian art scene, and negotiating that with those who are able or who have the potential to succeed commercially.  Whether this negotiation can be successfully achieved in actuality remains to be seen till the opening of Art Stage Singapore on January 15th 2014, we are certainly looking forward to seeing the final exhibition of Platform and how it contributes to the fair.

Mithu Sen at Art Stage Singapore

Mithu Sen at Art Stage Singapore. Image Credit: http://www.galeriesteph.com/pdf/gs_mithu-sen_installation.pdf

For more information visit: Art Stage Singapore.