Beyond the Future: Papers from the Third Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

photographs of herself with her mother. Somporn Rodboon spoke on the burgeoning 'women's art movement in Thailand' which has occurred in the 1 990s and mentioned the positive influence of Australian women artists who have had residencies at the leading art schools in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. A d istingu ished art practitioner and academic from Pakistan, Sal ima Hashmi, drew attention to the covert activities of women artists seeking change within a repressive military regime and the barriers they need to overcome to exhibit works with female content. From a curatorial perspective, Soyeon Ahn gave statistics on the huge unacknowledged contribution women make in Korea's art world as gallery administrators and consumers of art. She previewed an ambitious Women's Art Festival which took place in Seoul in late 1 999, and sought to redress omissions in Korean art history as well as reflecting on contemporary developments . The event was not organ ised by a public museum or institution but by a women's association with funding raised privately and through sales of works donated by women artists . Mali Wu, a prominent artist from Taiwan, spoke on her use of the archive, especially photographs, to deconstruct history and to subvert memory and social val ues. Finally, Erika Osaka, chief curator at Art Tower M ita, gave an illustrated overview o Japanese female artists. THE KOREAN ART SCENE FOR WOMEN ARTISTS Soyeon Ahn I wouldn't be exaggerating if I told you that the Korean art world we see and appreciate today has almost been brought up by Korean women . Every year, approximately 40,000 young women apply to the art departments of Korean universities, while annually about 8,000 of them graduate with degrees in art. What is even more impressive is that this means also that women comprise 70% of the students in these departments . Further, classes about the arts held as part of the adult education offerings found at local cultural centres are dominated by female students. Another interesting fact is that women play a vital role in the distribution side of the art market. Why? The reason is that they comprise 80% of those who either run galleries or buy art. In summary, what I have been trying to share with you is that Korea's a rt world has grown due to the active involvement, care and concern of women . However there is an irony here, for despite what I have mentioned , it is men who are in the positions of actually controlling the Korean art world. It is men who draft cultural policy. It is men, despite the fact that there are many curators and assistants who are female, who are selected to be chief curators or to run the museums. Those who teach art in universities are mainly male and, perhaps most significantly, most artists listed in the Artists Association are men. The position of power that men hold is the resu lt of male-centred economic activity as well as apprenticeships that favour men . As a result, the h uge number of women in the art world in Korea a�e relegated to positions on the sidelines to be nothing more than consumers of art. As you all well know, this is not a problem unique to Korea . In 1 97 1 , Linda Nochlin posed a basic question by asking, 'Why have there been no great women artists?' I n so doing she began the fundamental debate on feminism in the art world. In Seoul now there is an ambitious trial to re-examine Korean art history from the point of view of women . For example, there is officially no record of professional women artists before the twentieth century in Korea. This m isconception is now being rectified and their positions in the country's art h istory are to be restored by an exhibition called Women's Art Festival '99'. This project is not simply to re-estimate prominent individuals, but the originality of women's activity as art is being acknowledged . Interestingly enough, the sub-title of the exhibition is 'Patjis on Parade', the Patji in traditional Korean fairytales connoting a 'typical bad girl'. While at first glance this title may seem to be somewhat offensive, it does describe succinctly the way society perceived women who chose to become artists . The exhibition is composed of both the historical and the contemporary; the contemporary part is divided into five sections concerning various themes. The first, entitled Women's Sensibilities, deals with aesthetic exploration as the basis of the femin ine personality. 40 f