Video Art Has Become Very

¶ … video art has become very popular in Korean due to the influence of technology. Many of the best new artists are incorporating this form of art and embedding it deeply into their work. Paik Nam, who is considered the first Korean to use video art in his Cafe a Go-Go exhibit, has now evolved into a new generation of artists. Park Hyun Ki is one of the artists that are now "incorporating images that are highly specific and relevant to a distinctly Korean audience."

Park Hyun Ki was born in 1942 in Seoul, his focus in art is in the link between spirituality and technology. He explains that his particular interest is in finding the balance between industrialization and culture. The deeper undertones of his art is that he finds in Korean culture the economic growth and the social growth from Western countries have changed it away from traditional values. He sees the video art as a method of using video monitor as an art object, however he has evolved to using a more sophisticated "merging of video and nature." His most famous work and the one to be discussed in this paper is his "untitled series (1976-79). He says that he was inspired by Paik's exhibits and he wanted to show the world a new hybrid type of art work.

The untitled series revolves around the "deification" of the video monitor. The art work consists of a monitor that is sandwiched within a column of stones, the actual vertical alignment of the work is reminiscent of the "totemic piles placed on mountainsides across Korea." The concept behind it is that, in traditional Korean culture, it is a "shamanistic custom" where passerby of the totem will make a wish by placing a stone onto of a larger stone to form a "pillar to the gods." The purpose of this work, as explained earlier is to explore the contributing factors of industrialization and modern society along with traditional concepts. The sandwiching of the monitor is symbolic of how Korea no longer depends upon the old beliefs and have cast aside many of its traditions in favor of modern technology. However, that even as Korea continues to adopt culture from the Western world they still keep to some of the traditions of the past. The fusion of these two cultures and time periods is represented in this work. Park explains that in this piece, his specific purpose is to reflect ancestral ideas of beauty. He explains that he "saw an old man piling up stones, like a child, saying that one represented him and the other his hat. The peace and harmony of the stone, the mane and the place where the stone pile was raised, opened my eyes to the beauty of Korean traditions which are based on harmony with nature." Park's focus on how nature and technology can blend just like how tradition and modernization can blend are all important aspects of his artwork and is very important in the context of current Korean culture.

Park strategically places the monitor as part of the column as a symbol of his intentions and feelings about technology and its influence in Korea. He sees that the monitor is part of the "wish" column of stones, and that it is an emblem of "hope, yearning and desire." The way that this piece is so simply done and how every part of it fits together so well, as well as the quality of the materials used, denotes how Park has his focus on lifting the piece from an "artistic platform" into one of total symbolic value. Park's creation showcases his belief that natural beauty and serenity is still part of Korean culture but that technology also now plays a very important role in how Koreans perceive the world. He attempts to carry across the idea of unity between "nature and beauty" as a universal theme, however much of this concept is lost unless he fully explains the piece himself.

Part of the problem with this work is that Park has made it almost too abstract. This exhibit which was also taken in the international arena loses the audiences once they are not fully Korean. This is because non-Koreans cannot appreciate the subtle aspects of the artwork because they are dealing with objects and symbols that unique to Korean culture. When the images of the video-art lose their meaning, Park's exhibit shows that there are many limitations to this medium. Specifically, that it is so abstract in nature it only has relevance in the Korean setting. This is a problem with the new video-art format, because it has become so abstract that they cannot be translated across cultures. Park's work especially deviates from the traditional Korean symbolism but he still attempts to have a strong connection with Korean culture.

Park has continued to focus on his theme of the blending of nature, technology and beauty in his more modern artwork. In one recent exhibit, he created "Water Series" which was exhibited in 1997 at the Sonje Museum of Contemporary Art in Kyongju. He uses the exhibition floor for this exhibit where he projects images of waves onto cubes of artificial stone. The projections ultimately resemble small ponds through their interplay and weaving. Park explains that he is attempting to use this piece to convey a traditional Korean concept of poetry composing parties during the Chosun Dynasty. His projections mirror the attitude of contemplation that the attendants of the parties feel when they are by the river streams composing poetry and drinking. The piece is very symbolic but also alluring because when the viewer looks at the waves he gets mesmerized and "pulled in."

This piece is much different from his last work because he focuses on creating something that is neutral rather than highly cultural. Both Korean and non-Korean audiences can draw something from this piece because of its overall beauty. The significance of the interpretation can be different provided different circumstances because the importance of the piece lies in how the viewer feels when they see it rather than actual precise interpretation of its meaning. Park's specific interest in providing beauty and doing it in a Korean culture that has changed significantly in the past fifty years because of the emerging sense of social change due to the influence of western culture.