Since the age of Renaissance in 15th century, works of art have been displayed under the form of gallery or cabinet. After that, it was in the midst of 18th century, the age of Enlightenment that the concept of modern museums and art galleries was est...
Since the age of Renaissance in 15th century, works of art have been displayed under the form of gallery or cabinet. After that, it was in the midst of 18th century, the age of Enlightenment that the concept of modern museums and art galleries was established. Time passed by, and at the beginning of the 20th century, the contemporary White cube gallery exhibition, where artworks are labelled and displayed in roomy areas surrounded by white walls, was settled in The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) thanks to the contribution of Alfred H. Barr. Jr. Since the mid-20th century, a variety of experiments and attempts, especially site-specific art, which deviate from traditional way of displaying and exhibiting artworks, have been activated.
Within the trend, I have been working on installation artworks within the concept of site-specific art for a couple of years. This paper is to analyze all the works of art in a solo exhibition, 『Bukseongno 90-2』with diverse perspectives, which expressed the vague and ambiguous distinction between the present and the past in Bukseongno, Daegu, by fossilizing the history and meaning of the place into installation art.
The research starts by looking into the flow of the change in displaying artworks-from traditional gallery, White cube, and to a variety of site-specific arts-and summarizing the history and meaning of Bukseongno, Jung-gu, Daegu, the main theme of the artwork. Based on that, the analysis on the work of art was conducted by quoting discussions from many theorists and comparing/contrasting preceding works.
As a result of the research, the characteristics of the artwork can be extracted as follows. First, unlike most other preceding works of site-specific art where the way of extracting theme relies heavily on the artists’ direct and physical collecting,『Bukseongno 90-2』collected patches of the artwork with the help of web surfing through digital media. The collection of data through digital media in this artwork was one of the most salient features which distinguishes the work from other site-specific artworks. Secondly, the work of art scaled some of numerous past events in Bugseongno and made the visitors face with them, leading to an undefinable sense from the coexistence of the present and the past. This can be explained by many senior artists and theories. Thirdly, the artwork is in line with John Dewey’s <Art as Experience> in that visitors can sense aesthetical impression by means of their own experience when watching the work adorned with light and smoke surrounded by the darkness. It also corresponds to the concept of Sublimity by Immanuel Kant in that visitors enjoy the work surrounded by the dreamlike and mystical atmosphere which it evokes.
Therefore, throughout the research, three major characteristics of the artwork could be pointed out, from which I could get hint for my future artworks to come with more creativity and revealing inner necessity.