@article{ART003278959},
author={JANG UN KIM},
title={Redefining the Character of Korean Contemporary Art since the 1990s through the Post-conceptual Condition},
journal={Journal of History of Modern Art},
issn={1598-7728},
year={2025},
volume={0},
number={58},
pages={257-282},
doi={10.17057/kahoma.2025..58.011}
TY - JOUR
AU - JANG UN KIM
TI - Redefining the Character of Korean Contemporary Art since the 1990s through the Post-conceptual Condition
JO - Journal of History of Modern Art
PY - 2025
VL - 0
IS - 58
PB - 현대미술사학회
SP - 257
EP - 282
SN - 1598-7728
AB - This study re-examines the development of Korean contemporary art since the 1990s through the theoretical prism of Peter Osborne’s “post-conceptual condition.” It challenges prevailing sociological and critical theory-based frameworks that reduce the diversification of 1990s Korean art to a mere reflection of external factors or an illustration of specific theories, thereby failing to fully capture the period’s fundamental ontological turn.
This paper argues that the transformation of Korean art since the 1990s was not a belated reception of Western theories but rather a synchronization, without time lag, with the universal condition of art in the era of globalization and “contemporaneity,” which fundamentally reshaped art’s very ontology. To demonstrate this, the study analyzes the dialectical movement between “site” (the urban social sphere) and “non-site” (the institutional sphere of art, including museums, biennales, and the art market). It further investigates how the emergence of micropolitical subjects, including women, and sexual, racial, and social minorities, catalyzed this transformation through specific artworks.
Ultimately, this research re-evaluates the development of contemporary art in Korea since the 1990s as a deepened practice of vernacular Conceptualism. By elucidating the internal logic of this period, the study presents a new critical perspective through which its unique character can be defined as “Seoul Post-Conceptualism.”
KW - Korean Contemporary Art;Peter Osborne;Post-conceptual Condition;Contemporaneity;Conceptualism;Site/Non-site
DO - 10.17057/kahoma.2025..58.011
ER -
JANG UN KIM. (2025). Redefining the Character of Korean Contemporary Art since the 1990s through the Post-conceptual Condition. Journal of History of Modern Art, 0(58), 257-282.
JANG UN KIM. 2025, "Redefining the Character of Korean Contemporary Art since the 1990s through the Post-conceptual Condition", Journal of History of Modern Art, vol.0, no.58 pp.257-282. Available from: doi:10.17057/kahoma.2025..58.011
JANG UN KIM "Redefining the Character of Korean Contemporary Art since the 1990s through the Post-conceptual Condition" Journal of History of Modern Art 0.58 pp.257-282 (2025) : 257.
JANG UN KIM. Redefining the Character of Korean Contemporary Art since the 1990s through the Post-conceptual Condition. 2025; 0(58), 257-282. Available from: doi:10.17057/kahoma.2025..58.011
JANG UN KIM. "Redefining the Character of Korean Contemporary Art since the 1990s through the Post-conceptual Condition" Journal of History of Modern Art 0, no.58 (2025) : 257-282.doi: 10.17057/kahoma.2025..58.011
JANG UN KIM. Redefining the Character of Korean Contemporary Art since the 1990s through the Post-conceptual Condition. Journal of History of Modern Art, 0(58), 257-282. doi: 10.17057/kahoma.2025..58.011
JANG UN KIM. Redefining the Character of Korean Contemporary Art since the 1990s through the Post-conceptual Condition. Journal of History of Modern Art. 2025; 0(58) 257-282. doi: 10.17057/kahoma.2025..58.011
JANG UN KIM. Redefining the Character of Korean Contemporary Art since the 1990s through the Post-conceptual Condition. 2025; 0(58), 257-282. Available from: doi:10.17057/kahoma.2025..58.011
JANG UN KIM. "Redefining the Character of Korean Contemporary Art since the 1990s through the Post-conceptual Condition" Journal of History of Modern Art 0, no.58 (2025) : 257-282.doi: 10.17057/kahoma.2025..58.011
