KOREA ENCOUNTERS Experimental artists challenge 'suffocating' conformity in 1960s Seoul

Chung Chan-seung prepares an installation, published June 17, 1970. Weekly Woman

In December 1967, three experimental art groups, whose members were mostly graduates of Hongik University, held an exhibition at the Central Information Center gallery near Gwanghwamun in central Seoul.

This exhibition might have passed with little media notice had the artists not gone out into the streets to picket and decry public indifference and the fact that Korea had no galleries for modern art.

The highlight of the exhibition was Korea’s first-ever “happening.” The term “happening” had been coined by American artist Alan Kaprow in the late 1950s after he became interested in the performative aspects of making art. For him, the line between art and life was to be made as fluid and indistinct as possible.

Titled “Happening with Plastic Umbrella and Candle,” this Korean event involved participants from two art groups circling a seated woman holding a plastic umbrella and finally tearing it apart. The spectacle was described by its scripter, Oh Kwang-soo, as “a sort of criticism on civilization by comparing a plastic umbrella symbolizing the modern material civilization with candlelight symbolizing our spirit, and finally breaking and trampling down the umbrella.”

Despite the newness of the art these young artists were producing, at least some media outlets celebrated their efforts, asking hopefully whether Korean abstract art had “finally reached a turning point” and lauding the “unconventional courage of the fearless generation.” Such expressions of support were, however, rare.

In March 1968, The Korea Times profiled Choe Bung-hyeon and Kim Yeong-ja, members of the "Mu" (NiI) Group, who were described as “explorers of abstractionistic, mobile, environmental, minimal, surrealistic” art. Cataloguing the “junk” they brought home after their honeymoon, which they planned to make art from, the article concluded, “No wonder the neighbors call the artist couple eccentrics.”

Jeong Gang-ja takes part in "Transparent Balloons and Nude," published June 9, 1968. / Weekly Hankook

A number of happenings took place in Seoul in 1968, with the most notorious being “Transparent Balloons and Nude,” which took place at the music hall C’est Si Bon on May 30. It featured the audience tearing off the clothes of artist Jeong Gang-ja, affixing balloons to her body and then popping them. “It was happening, all right,” The Korea Times wrote, mockingly. “It takes 15 balloons, a semi- nude woman's body, loud, loud primitive beats and psychedelic lights to make some graduates of art schools claim that they have produced a work of art.”

The article quoted Chung Chan-seung, described as “the spokesman for this group of 'bizarre‘ artists,’” as saying “we wanted to express artistically… what could not be done by conventional means.”

As folk singer Hahn Dae-soo recently told The Korea Times, “Chung and I met around the late 1960s. He was very open to new ideas in art and also very influenced by 'dada' and the hippie movement. He thought good art could change the world for the better, but Korea had neither movement at all.”

The media also chose to focus more on the sensationalist aspects of these artists’ work, particularly Jeong Gang-ja’s nudity. The Weekly Hankook noted that the artists were sensitive to this and did not invite painters or professionals. As Jeong put it, “We only deal with students and the general public because we want their unspoiled eyes.” In response, the magazine wondered “how to distinguish this unconventional ‘art’ from ‘showmanship,’ ‘terrorism’ or ‘scandal’.”

In 1969 Chung Chan-seung appeared in Korea’s first experimental film, “The Meaning of 1/24 Second,” directed by Kim Kulim, and in October of that year, Chung and designer Son Il-gwang invited the magazine Sunday Seoul to accompany them as they had their hair cut by a hairdresser rather than a barber.

Hahn Dae-soo, who shocked Koreans with his long hair when he returned to Korea in 1968, said of Chung, “When I first met him in the late 1960s, his hair was not that long. I think I influenced him.”

Kim Kulim undertakes body painting, published May 14, 1969. Weekly Woman

Chung chose to rebel against barbershops because barbers wouldn’t cut his hair the way he wanted. As Chung put it, “We've all been reduced to cogs in the machine. Individuality is dying.” He added, “It's not just about hairstyles, but also about dressing and thinking, and if you want to have a personal life, you have no choice but to challenge existing stereotypes.”

Days before this, Chung and Kim Kulim had mailed a series of letters featuring their fingerprints to 100 cultural figures. Dismissed as a prank by some, the artists declared that fingerprints were chosen because they could not be imitated by humans or computers. As well, they noted, "Up until now, artworks have always been made using canvas or objects to force the audience to look at them in the exhibition hall,” and mailing letters was a way around this. They added, “one day, the printed media of letters will disappear. So the letter will remain as a relic.”

In June 1970, Chung, Son, Kim, Jeong Gang-ja and others formed the Fourth Group, which included members other than artists. They increasingly moved their activities out into the streets, distributing letters to students at Seoul National University’s gate, burning giant triangles onto a river bank, carrying out a pantomime play in the streets of Myeong-dong and, on Liberation Day, carrying out a march with a coffin from Sajik Park to the Han River titled “Funeral for the Established Culture.”

The latter two events resulted in arrests, with police applying charges such as “violating traffic laws.”

Scenes from the "Funeral for the Established Culture" march include an image at the bottom of Son Il-gwang and Chung Chan-seung stopped by police while carrying a coffin, published Aug. 15, 1970. Weekly Woman

Throughout this period it is clear that the artists discovered another “canvas” upon which to paint: the pages of the weekly magazines. Always on the lookout for salacious or “shocking” content, the weeklies covered the artists’ activities numerous times. This coverage was clearly solicited by the artists themselves since it was a way to get their message out to a far larger audience than might be found in an exhibition hall.

In July 1970, Sunday Seoul featured color images of Son Il-gwang painting the breasts of a nude model, while in August it published images of Chung Chan-seung and Jeong Gang-ja’s naked bodies entwined. At a five-day exhibition held by Jeong, which began on Aug. 20, she declared, “We feel like we're suffocating. We're going to expose the old way of thinking to society.” However, because the exhibition involved nudity, it was shut down after two days, with a government official asking “How could that be considered an artistic act or an exhibition? I've never seen anything like it in my life.”

A week later, orders “from a high place” — a euphemism for President Park Chung-hee — came down to police, who, without warning, carried out the first “long hair crackdown” on Aug. 29. Since long hair had become fashionable during the past six months, over 600 young men had their hair cut on the first day alone. Among them was Chung Chan-seung, who appeared on the cover of the Weekly Hankook having his head shaved.

Chung Chan-seung receives a forced haircut, published Sept 6, 1970. Weekly Hankook

Days later, a crackdown was announced that focused on every kind of activity the artists connected with the Fourth Group had been involved in for the previous three years, and their subsequent disappearance from the weekly magazines served to muzzle one of the few groups that had openly called for individual freedom in an increasingly authoritarian society. Unfortunately, the 1970 crackdown on long hair and experimental art was a harbinger of much darker times to come.

Matt VanVolkenburg has a master's degree in Korean studies from the University of Washington. He is the blogger behind populargusts.blogspot.kr, and co-author of "Called by Another Name: A Memoir of the Gwangju Uprising." He will give a lecture titled “’We feel like we’re suffocating’: Experimental Artists Confront Conformity in Seoul, 1968-70” for Royal Asiatic Society Korea on Jan. 16 at the fifth-floor conference room of Fast Five Tower near Seoul City Hall. Admission costs 10,000 won, or 5,000 won for students with valid ID and is free for RAS Korea members. Visit raskb.com for more information.