Present Encounters : Papers from the conference of the Second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, 1996

the old tomb of the Shilla Dynasty; a heap of garbage from the industrial society, neon lights and television monitors. They are the properties of a time penetrating from the past to the future, and they are also metaphors of our hope to recover from the abuses of industrialism . The small statues exemplify elemental power, wh ich is valid for the Buddhist religion, appealing to the belief in consistent values. The lit subterranean room u nder the glass is filled with heaps of garbage. However, the monitor screens, lined up in the midst of this civil isation's waste seem to radiate a gleam of hope. Jheon is appreciated as an artist who combi nes effectively traditional motives and the problems of contemporary society, and creates an imposing spectacle with the setti ng of materials, light and colours. Ahn Sung-Keum not only shows typical oriental motifs such as Buddhist statues and scriptures, but also presents a certain situation where painting , sound, literature and even religion are intersected by each other. Cutting the statues of Buddha is not the gesture of an iconoclast, but it is against a way of th inking and the logic of the Western world about religion . Because the concept of Buddh ism is that the human being can save himself a nd Buddha is not the Almighty God but could be one among us - is very much contra ry to Western Ch ristian ity. Ahn interprets directly the Chinese cha racter of the 'Avalokitesvara' (Buddha of Mercy) to the Buddha who is seeing the sound. She is searching for a situation of correspondence of the senses by combining the concept of sight and sound. She puts sou nd and silence, writing and vision on the same level. Her work is currently shown at major i nternational art fairs and she participated in the Korean art show at the 1 995 Kwangj u Biennale. Kim Soo-Ja is one of the generally well-accepted Korean artists in the international art world . She participated in the 'Tiger's Tail' exhibition at the 1 995 Venice Biennale; the first Kwangju Biennale; the Biennale of plastic artworks in Frankfurt last year; the 'First Manifesta' whi ch is the 1 996 European Biennale in Rotterdam; the Korean Contemporary Art Show i n Nagoya City Art Museum and the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, Japan, and 'Traditions/Tensions' wh ich will open very soon in The Asia Society Galleries in New York. She uses the very colourful wrapping cloths which are a traditional motif, very familiar to Koreans. But, at the same time, she is flexibly participating in the contemporary art context with her wrapping cloths. Fabrics and sewing are related to femin ist issues; bundles and the action of bundling up recall the concept of nomadism , because Koreans used bundles instead of suitcases when we moved and it was usually the work of housewives. She i ncludes the used clothes inside her works and so raises questions about our body and existence . . . Kwangju is a very historical and political city because there was a series of civi l uprisings against the military dictatorship in 1 980 , and many Korean people died there. [For her Kwangj u Biennale installation] Kim Soo-Ja placed the used clothes on the ground and invited people to walk u pon them. The old clothes were changed suddenly to scattered or buried bodies of victims. This work was a deep lamentation over the victims. Cho Duck-Hyun gathers the g l impses of our memories which are being forgotten behind Korean modern h istory. A series of works titled 'The Memory of the 20th Centu ry' which comprise very detailed drawings from old photographs showing our very ordinary parents who have made history. He participated in the first Asia-Pacific Triennial in 1 993, the Korean contemporary show of the last Venice Biennale, and held a one man show i n the I nstitute of Contemporary Art i n Philadelphia, United States. Recently, he has shown an interest i n the process of excavation. This work titled A box from the antipodes was presented in the last Sao Paulo Biennale. This rem inded one of the geographical d istance and cultural difference between Korea and Brazil , and it was actually realised by the excavation performance there. Yook Keun-Byung is known in Europe by the Kassel Documenta in 1 992, the Third Lyon Biennale in F rance and a recent exhibition at the Cartier Foundation in Paris. H is typical form of work is a Korean old mound with an in laid eye on it. The form of the mound cou ld also be related to the form of a woman's breast or a phallus; that means the mound could be a symbol of life or death , past or future. On the top of the mound, which looks anti-civilisation and primitive, there is an ironically inlaid television eye, which is the product of our civilisation .This living eye is watching us like a phosphorescent spirit. 98