New Generation - the latest in contemporary photography from Korea

“If history is not yours you cannot develop it or find you own language,” says artist and professor of photography at the College of Arts at Chung-Ang University in Seoul, Kyungwoo Chun, the curator of the New Generation.
But in Korea the first photographic pioneers were forgotten after the war of 1950–1953 and photographers instead turned their eyes – and lenses – to Europe and the US.   

With that in mind, New Generation is not only the debut for the eight most talented photographers who have graduated from Chung-Ang University in 2013–2014: “The title New Generation also points to a new generation of ideas,” underlines Prof. Chun.   

The exhibition displays two kinds of work: Bora Sung, Chankyu Kim, Hyungsik Kim, Bareun, Jihyun Jung, Taejoong Kim, Youngdon Jung and Youngjin Yoo have reinterpreted a selection of old Korean photographs and vintage prints under the theme Homagination – a combination of the words homage and imagination. The exhibition also presents works from their own oeuvre created in their own style – but nonetheless influenced by history. 
In these works the artists experiment with the photographic media and different forms of expression. They have also each contributed with a photo book created especially for the show.   

BAREUN (b. 1986) has reinterpreted the photographic still-life Untitled (Apple) (1956–71) by HYUN Iloung, which shows an apple with a rotten core. Bareun shares with Hyun the same interest for the inner rather than just the surface properties in his work. Here, focusing only on the core, he has photographed an apple cut in half from different angles and subsequently layered the many individual images. 
He also uses this layering technique in the series Familiar Scene II (2013-14). Here the fragmented townscapes reflect the fact that he has moved 20 times in just 27 years.   

Bora SUNG (b. 1985) has created a series of portraits for the exhibition, depicting marathon runners pictured at different locations along the same route. In the photographs, she has added contour lines from geographical maps to the faces of the athletes, thereby connecting mental states with physical conditions. Portraiture is also the subject of the work she made with the commercial studio photographer SHIN Chilhyun. Here she asked him to shoot his own self-portrait.  

Changyu KIM (b. 1988) often focuses his lens on everyday objects that are so familiar that we ordinarily barely notice them. His working process is intuitive, although strong connections often arise between his images as demonstrated in the photo book A Dull Complete Works. Here the work May.17.2014 The Sky in Anseong (Korea), created during a conversation with a friend, is followed by July.8.2013 The Sky in Geneva (Switzerland).
In his interpretations of SHIN Nakgyun’s portraits from the 1930s, he takes as his starting point the older artist’s use of objects to portray each subject, creating portraits without the presence of the individual within the picture.  

Hyungsik KIM (b. 1979) concentrates on the photographic medium itself, asking questions about reality, representation and space. His works deceive the eye with mirrors, depicting objects from the darkroom and the studio such as sheets of celluloid, film reels and colour samples. 
His paraphrase of MIN Chung-sik’s Still- life (1910s-1920s) replicates Min’s working method to create an artificial landscape in the studio.  

Jihyun JUNG (b. 1983) works with places and objects in the process of change. The Dark Side (2013) shows pictures from the border area between North and South Korea taken in daylight and later projected onto the same landscape at night. The work points to the many similarities that connect the people in North and South even though they have been parted by history. Meanwhile, Green Tree (After LIMB Eung Sik) (2014) has been created from a fragment of time when a photograph has been made of a tree behind a green cloth, suggesting a possible blooming though it is soon to be cut down due to a demolition project.  

Taejoong KIM (b. 1986) displays photographs taken in the middle of a forest. The tightly tangled growth suggests our inner life, while the video shows the process behind the making of the works. In Removing (After JUNG Haechang) (2014) Kim ‘reactivates’ JUNG Haechang’s photographic Still-life (1929–1941) by photographing hands removing objects from the picture.   

Youngdon JUNG (b. 1988) has photographed random people from the top of the 20-storey building where he lives, taking his inspiration from the ants crawling on his kitchen table. The same rhythm and movements are reflected in the many particles visible in the coarse-grained photograph. Also showing is his reworking of HYUN Ilyoung’s The Days (1966), which deals with moments from everyday life and objects taken out of multitude.   

Youngjin YOO (b. 1988) creates images from our shared public space but depicted as if they are subjective and private spaces. In the works Nowhere – 88H 16 min (2012) and Nowhere – 107H 17 min (2012) he has photographed the same place over many hours and later combined pictures from both day and night. The images contain an exceptional atmosphere and distinctive colours that do not actually exist in reality.   

The exhibition, curated by Kyungwoo Chun, is a collaboration between Galleri Image and the Museum of Photography, Seoul. The exhibition is being presented at the two venues at the same time. 

A catalogue including all works from both exhibitions is available, price 150 DKK.   

The exhibition is supported by the Danish Arts Council, Aarhus Municipality and The Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Denmark.                                                       
www.photomuseum.or.kr