Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art
in association with Yashodhara Dalmia, Korean Cultural Centre and School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU,
hosted

THE FIRST ILA DALMIA MEMORIAL LECTURE

Asia, yet how? Positioning Asia in Contemporary Global Art by

Heejin Kim
Chief Curator, Asia Culture Complex Gwangju, and Director of Art Space Pool, Seoul 

Moderated by Dr Annapurna Garimella

Date: 28 January 2014, 5:30 pm | Tea will be served at 5pm
Venue: School of Arts and Aesthetics Auditorium, JNU, New Delhi

Concept note | Asia, yet how?: Positioning Asia in Contemporary Global Art

In this talk Heejin Kim thought through a vague, yet undeniable, topology being drawn by contemporary Asian discourses today. How can we imagine a pre-emptive framework in which Asia, keeping its contingency away from two extremities of modern nation-statehood and ethnicity, develops its cultural literacy? What kinds of multiple discourses are constituting contemporary Asia? What line of thought is gaining supremacy in the discursive structure on Asia? Are the multiple Asian discourses drawing any discursive topologies like trans-Asian, pan-Asian or global Asian beyond "anything goes" of postmodern pluralism?

HEEJIN KIM is Chief Curator, Asia Culture Complex Gwangju, & Director of Art Space Pool, Seoul and former curator of Insa Art Space (2006-09) in Seoul. Kim’s curatorial interest is institutional critique from the perspective of cultural politics, artists’ practice-oriented knowledge production, articulation of local creative languages and performative education in curating. Kim’s projects take integrated forms of collective research lab, dialogical discursive workshop, presentation, production and publication. Some of the examples include Dongducheon: A Walk to Remember, A Walk to Envision (2007-08, New Museum, NY & IAS, Seoul), John Bock: 2 handbags in a pickle (2008, Arko Art Center & IAS, Seoul), Unconquered: Critical Visions from South Korea (2009, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City), Tongue, Liberated! (2008), Thought is made in the mouth (2007), Frame Builders: The Choice of Local Art Institution in the time of Institutional Critique (2006), and most recently, Day of Confidence (2010), the project in six parts at Pool. Pool/Kim is one of “Museum as Hub,” the partnership of five international art institutions for inter-regional curatorial collaborations.