Expanding and diversifying Korean wave

By Lee Kyung-hwa

Last May, the Korean wave (hallyu) supergroup BTS was invited to the White House. As Grammy-nominated international icons and youth ambassadors, they delivered a message of hope and positivity that transcends language and cultural barriers, using their status to combat anti-Asian hate crimes and disinformation and to emphasize the importance of diversity and inclusion to the world through music.

Historian Yuval Noah Harari stated, "History began when humans invented gods, and will end when humans become gods." Homo sapiens is a species that has survived human history and has caused the wave of the cognitive revolution, the agricultural revolution, and the scientific revolution. Now, mankind has reached the level of a god who cuts life with genetic scissors. Through slaughter, he has achieved economic growth, weapons development, increased trade and dominance over other animals.

The world now faces a number of crises, including racial and class conflicts, police brutality, anti-Asian hate crimes, the U.S.-China Taiwan Strait conflict, global economic crises, socio-economic polarization and climate change. An unprecedented degree of vitality and strength is required to overcome these disasters, and we are in desperate need of comfort and healing through connection rather than division.

Humans have the extraordinary ability to imagine and transmit information about things that do not exist at all. For millennia, our species has survived through communication, empathy, bonding and collaboration. At its core, the Korean wave has sprung from the imagination ― envisioning a postcolonial reality against the country's historical context.

From Japanese colonialism and the Korean War to the present day, Korea has demonstrated a path of humility and hope exemplified by, for example, BTS, who ascended from a low-status background to global visibility transcending race, nationality and class. Capturing aspirations of the world's young people for freedom and change, K-wave culture offers transnational empathy and provides hope and excitement, allowing diverse audiences around the world to participate and connect voluntarily.

However, the current direction of the Korean wave has been locked in a narrow view, perceived by some according to the flawed logic of cultural nationalism and global capitalism. Artistry and connectivity are, according to the model of "export compulsion," subverted by motivations of profit, expansion and modernization.

The concept of the Korean wave must be expanded from this existing point of view. The Korean wave is a relatively new phenomenon beyond our identity or tradition. It involves re-historicization and re-creation, which have gained strength from historical and social perspectives. The era in which we live is defined by diversity, transnationality and hybridity.

Geography and geopolitics are deeply intertwined, with a tendency toward decentralization rather than centralization, people of color becoming more powerful in the United States and around the world, and individuals of Korean descent becoming more active and visible in a variety of contexts.

Works such as "Minari" as a Korean diaspora film, the treatment of the colonial experience in "Pachinko," the approach of "Parasite" to class conflict, and the commentary of "Squid Game" on capitalist competition offer just a few examples of Korean culture's contemporary international influence.

So, how can we make our art and culture and the globalization of the Korean wave sustainable? In this effort, we propose a diasporic international cultural policy through a high-end strategy that combines philosophy and form. As a methodology, we propose the overseas construction of "K-Tube," an international museum with an experimental hybrid concept based on the reinterpretation of the spiritual world of Nam June Paik, the originator Korean-art.

Paik's art philosophy is deeply embedded in Eastern and Western ideas and the DNA of technological science that predicted today's smartphones. He performed the world's first satellite art in the 20th century, and offered the reinterpretation of Korean culture and art, experimentation and research, as well as the sustainability of Korean wave as a stage where reality and virtuality coexist.

This new and novel autonomous concept breaks away from Korea's bureaucratic systemic cultural structure, and through productive exchanges with overseas local people, will help form a bridge between local and global cultural and artistic professionals, artists, and audiences.

Korean film, visual arts, performing arts, design, architecture, fashion, food, multidisciplinary and popular arts are exhilaratingly open to the world in both physical and virtual space. There is an opportunity to create important cross-cultural exchange, both spatially and theoretically, inspired by Korean art and culture, like the Bauhaus in Germany in the past, where a forum for discourse could unfold and performances and exhibitions could be held.

A country that underestimates the power of culture as marginal compared to the importance of economic or military power has a long way to go from realizing authentic power or prestige. The role of the Korean wave as a bridge between "high art" and "low art" has a great degree of strength both culturally and diplomatically, and the Korean wave is uniquely positioned to create art with authenticity, vitality and a truly global perspective.

Now is the time to refine further the foundations of technology, art and culture. It is important to transcend and expand the Korean wave by opening the door to new ideas, support and global exchange, and to enrich our presence on the global stage.

Lee Kyung-hwa (khl@namjunepaikcfoundation.org) is the international director of the Nam June Paik Cultural Foundation.