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

A Korean-Ame ri can , Byron Kim showed h is works at the 1 993 Wh itney Biennale in New York, and at the Korean Contemporary Art Show entitled 'Across the Pacific' in the New York Queens Museum of Art in 1 993. He is looking for his identity as a coloured immig rant in the Un ited States. I n his Synecdoche: Human skin project Kim arranged 204 panels painted with the skin colours of his friends and acquaintances. That means these are the real portraits of them . The Synecdoche painting calls into question identity as it is defined and contained by ski n colour. These are paintings of human bellies and show the skin colour range conceived for the crayon packets sold around the world . Mich ael Joo, a lso a Ko rean-American artist, refers to the race issue in the United States i n an alchemic way. He explores 'male art', so t o speak, and considers gender in t he context of race relations. H is works are accomplished by using salt, MSG (monosodium glutamate) , stam ina! restoratives, sound and smells. Salt, MSG and stamina! restoratives are closely connected with energy ci rcu lation and especially an oriental male's life. This installation, titled Mongoloid version B-29, was shown at 'Aperto' exh ibition of the 1 993 Ven ice Biennale and challenged prevalent race and gender stereotypes. This piece consisted of the fuselages of planes used d u ri ng the Korean war. 'Miss Megook means M iss America' was the name of an actual plane. He added a nude pin-up, which seems to be an Asian woman but a close r look reveals that it is the artist himself with long black hair arranged around h is body to conceal h is gender. Broken arm Shiva shows his schizophrenic identity as a Korean i n America. Severa l a rms and legs like Shiva are cast from h is body, and there are glass tubes inside them. Those tubes are filled with rice wine, which is the metaphor of his vein and Korean identity. M ichael Joo has participated in the Kwangju Biennale and in group shows i n the Paris Mun ici pal Museum, and several important exhibitions in Eu rope and t he Un ited States. I n contrast Lee Bui approaches feminist issues through dead fish and colourful decorations. Working with beads and sequins, threading them careful ly and embroidering them onto the fish is understood as a female's job. The beads and sequi ns represent woman's fantasy or van ity, but i n a contradictory way, they reflect the preoccupation and prej udice regarding Oriental women l i ke Madame Butterfly. As a personified being , the fish show the process of decomposition through time passing, the work asks us to reconsider the role of woman in ou r society. Lee Bu i partici pated in t he First Asia-Pacific Trienn ial and will hold a solo exhi bition in the Museum of Modern Art i n New York in 1 997. Kim Young-J i n , who received a good response at the Third Lyon Biennale last year, is regarded as an artist who makes new interpretations of technology in art. I n the Third Lyon Biennale, wh ich focused on art and technology to commemorate the Lumiere brothers, who were the i nventors of fil m , almost all participants suggested new mechanisms of technology for art: but Kim presented a simple but very contemplative and poetic space and overcame t he limits and problems of new technology art . He uses merely a simple timer, compressor and projectors, but invites us to the inner space surrounded by images of water drops, changed every moment by the surface tension of water. The i rregular sound of water drops and the hourg lass make us aware of the present existence. I think these artists are keepi ng i n their work their ideas and sensibilities as Koreans which are totally d ifferent from others, but at the same time, smartly escaping from just presenti ng Korean motifs. They suggest a new discou rse in a contemporary art context. Korean art and Asian-Pacific art are faced with a dilemma in the era of internationalisation . The Western art world i s expecting difference and a certain identity from us, but because of that d ifference , they put Asian or Pacific art on a different level from their own . This is their contradictory attitude about identity. I n our turn, when we emphasise only our own national or regional identity, I think our art wi ll decline and be seen as exotic or folk art, which satisfies the Western taste for anthropological appropriation. There is also another danger which makes us withd raw into nationalism or regionalism, preventing the real cultural exchanges between East and West. G rand discourses are receding and small discourses are growing . National identity should h ide itself under t he brilliant individuality of each artist. Because each artist is a u nique person who can alchemise his or her body and sou l , society and history, world and un iverse in art. 99