Art Sonje Center presents three artist talks in the framework of Connect 1: Still Acts to be held on November 5, 9 and 12, 2016. The series of talks will take the form of conversations: the participating artists Seoyoung Chung, Sora Kim, and Lee Bul will be paired with Hyunjin Kim, Haeju Kim and Hiroki Azuma, who contributed to the exhibition catalog with their essays on each artist respectively. On November 12, 2 PM, Lee Bul in Conversation with Hiroki Azuma will be held to create a new visibility over Lee’s artistic practice in general. The talk program will offer a chance to read in deep the artists’ works that engaged with our contemporary conditions of life since their earlier practices. Furthermore, it will provide discussions for a closer understanding of Connect 1: Still Acts’ thematic range as an exhibition that attempts to reinterpret the collection of the institution by re-generating past discourses on the current ground.

About the Artist

Lee Bul (b. 1964, Korea) grew up in Seoul and received a BFA in sculpture from Hongik University. Considered one of the leading Korean artists of her generation, she has achieved international recognition for her formally inventive, intellectually provocative oeuvre. Demonstrating virtuosity across diverse media––from drawing and performance to sculpture, painting, installation and video––her multifaceted production is representative of the most innovative aesthetic currents shaping contemporary art in the global sphere. Lee Bul’s work has been featured in solo presentations at museums throughout the world, including The Museum of Modern Art, New York (1997); New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (2002); Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris (2007–08); Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2012); MUDAM – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg (2013–14); Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (2014); National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul (2014). In 1999, she was awarded an Honorable Mention at the 48th Venice Biennale for her contribution to both the Korean Pavilion and the international exhibition curated by Harald Szeemann. In 2014, she received the Noon Award at the 10th Gwangju Biennale, an award given to an established artist who has produced the most experimental work that embodies the theme of the biennale.

Speaker

Hiroki Azuma is a cultural critic, novelist and philosopher. He obtained PhD from University of Tokyo and worked as professor at Waseda University. He is now the president of the publishing company Genron. His publications include Otaku: Japan’s Database Animals (University of Minnesota Press) and General Will 2.0: Rousseau, Freud, Google (Vertical) in English in addition to many books in Japanese. He was awarded 23rd Yukio Mishima Prize for his novel Quantum Families.

Moderator

Dr. Alex Taek-Gwang Lee is a cultural critic and professor in Kyung Hee University, Republic of Korea. He obtained MA in philosophy from University of Warwick and PhD in Cultural Theory from The University of Sheffield. His publications include The Idea of Communism 3 with Slavoj Zizek, Theory After Althusserianism, Futurism, The Obscene Fantasy of Korean Culture, Nationalism as a Sublime Object, Deleuze as a Theatre of Philosophy, This Is What Is Called Cultural Criticism, The Impressionists, and Framing a Witch.