To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Korea-UAE diplomatic relations, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Korea and the Ministry of Culture and Youth in the UAE are opening a special virtual exhibition "Ogamdo: 5 Scenes of Korean Art" from August 18 to November 30, 2020.

The Korean Cultural Center in the UAE and Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange(KOFICE) have organized the exhibition in collaboration with Manarat Al Saadiyat(MAS) through Traveling Korean Arts program to meet the audience with 40 artworks from 14 Korean artists through virtual reality due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Exhibition Period: 18 August - 30 November, 2020

Participating Artists : Gim Duk-Hoon, Kim Byung-hoon, Kwon Nam-Hee, Kwon Hyun-Bin, An Gyung-Su, Kim Eun-Hyung, Baek Heaven, Cho Jai-Young, Sunny Kim, Yoo Geun-Taek, Lee Woo-Sun, Kim Seung-Young, Park So-Young, Sen Chung

Curated by A-Lounge

Introduction

Ogamdo, translated as Crow’s eye view in English is a 15 series of Korean poem written by Yi Sang, one of the most famous avant-garde writers of the colonial era. Upon its publication in 1934, the poem was heavily criticized by readers for its vagueness and complexity but later, gained the appreciation of presenting novel perspectives on art by breaking the stereotypes of conventional poetry in the most unconventional way. The exhibition under the title of “OGAMDO: Five scenes of Korean Art” is designed to have a look at ‘here’ and ‘now’ of the 21 st century’s ‘Korean-ness’ present in Korean contemporary art. The name ‘Ogamdo’ of the exhibition is not an attempt to follow the poet’s enigmatic and incomprehensible style but rather a word play borrowed from the poem to present five different ways to view today’s Korean art. The exhibition, however, does try to capture what Yi Sang had attempted to show many years ago; a new perspective on art.

The exhibition is viewed from the following five perspectives: ‘new tradition’, ‘city montage’, ‘reconstruction of culture’, ‘everyday affair’ and ‘landscape through the mind’s eye’. The intention is to show the original Korean sentiment through different aspects, from traditional Korean life to the present day’s mixed cultures and our state of minds living in this fast-paced country. The 43 pieces of work from 14 Korean artists who are currently active both at home and abroad will unveil the Korean artistic spirit which would simultaneously bring to the international audience the feelings of uniqueness and universality, just as Yi Sang had done with his rule-breaking Ogamdo poems.

Subtitles

- New Tradition

- City, the life inside

- Restructure of culture

- Daily Life

- Landscape of the mind