Round Table Discussion: Third World Art’s Reception and Mission

Abstract

This is a round-table discussion among Sung Wan-kyung, a leading critic of the leftist art movement, Jung Jichang, a scholar of German literature and theater, and art critic Shim Gwanghyun. It was part of a special event that the monthly art magazine Gana Art organized in order to examine “the art of the third world.” Especially for the artists and critics in the Minjung misul (people’s art) movement, the idea of Korea as a third world nation was crucial in the discourse of the socio-politically unique condition of Korea in the mid-twentieth century. The participants share a common concern about “postmodernism,” as a Western oriented theory and phenomenon, that could possibly eliminate such politically specific principles and historically unique cultures.

Keywords:

• Korea
• contemporary art
• postmodernism
• postmodernist theory
• juche
• Seoul Olympics
• colonial culture
• counterculture
• Third World art
• Mexican muralism
• Sung Wan-kyung
• Jeong Ji-chang
• Shim Kwang-Hyun
• Havana Biennale
• Madang play movement
• Reality and
• Utterance group
• Dureong

Notes

1 Editor’s note: Juche, is a North Korean ideology of “self-reliance”. It combines ideas drawn from Confucianism, 20th-century Japanese imperialism, and traditional Korean nationalism, and argues that North Korea must remain separate and distinct from the world, reliant entirely on its own strength and the guidance of a near-godlike leader.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sung Wan-kyung

Translated from Korean by Namin Kim

Originally published as “Jesamsegye misurui suyonggwa gwaje,” in Gana Art (July/August 1990): 30-45.

Jeong Ji-chang

Translated from Korean by Namin Kim

Originally published as “Jesamsegye misurui suyonggwa gwaje,” in Gana Art (July/August 1990): 30-45.

Shim Kwang-Hyun

Translated from Korean by Namin Kim

Originally published as “Jesamsegye misurui suyonggwa gwaje,” in Gana Art (July/August 1990): 30-45.