Ideal and Reality of great discourse of Asian contemporary Art --Sukwon Chang 's Speech on International Seminar for Discussion on Contemporary Asian Art

Sukwon Chang (pro. of Chonnam Univ., art critic)

I recently saw the exhibition of Wang Du, a Chinese artist in Rodin Gallery in Seoul.He became known after he participated in the 1997 Venice Biennale. For Rodin he has made plaster figures of humans, animals and things from magazine advertisements and newspapers--the shaking-hands scene of Jacque Chirac and Jiang Zemin and an anonymous terrorist--and hung them in the ari,all of which creates an atmosphere reminding us of floating pop images. It seemed to me to be pop images of current topics in the western culture through Chinese eyes. The original images in newspapers and magazines spread on the floor disturbed our sense of reality obtained through news and advertisements. The overwhelming occupation of space by images slipped our of them, now puffed up and hang in the air gave the viewers a shock, making them re-experience the queer fantasy of the modern culture.It was as if I was cheap and wonderful Chinese Pop.

Such gorgeous and exaggerated image making might be due to his nationality. Behind it is hidden the criticism of reality. At he Venice Biennale Chinese artists such as Wang Du and Cai Guoqiang appeared on the scene as figures stimulating modern art. The Chinese political and commercial sense was used as a stimulating element as well as adding unique effects to modern Western culture. This can be interpreted as multiculturalism at its best. On the other hand it is an application of postcolonialism from a Eurocentric perspective. The Western viewpoint is limited in its interpretation of Oriental culture. It cannot recoganize the Orients unique creativity in a full sense. Thus, I think now is the moment to seriously discuss how to show and globalize the identity,historiciy,spirituality,and social and political aspects of Oriental culture.

The first step should be taken by breaking the fantasy that globalization is equal to Westernization.in the keynote speech of the Korean American Studies Conference held at the beginning of the current War against terrorism. " Does globalization mean Americanization?"-Richard Phells,prof, of Austin University strongly contended that globalization is not the same as Americanization. In terms of culture there is no reason to assume American culture should dominate Islam. In addition,modern culture doesn't have any problems that conflict or collide with Islamic culture.

Most of the Asian worlds were invaded and dominated by the Western powers at the some time in the last two centuries. Therefore, Asian's modernization was d0minated by Western ideology,capital and military power. In the process, local traditional values were overthrown and replaced by western social system. However, since their their national power has grown along with their industrial development after World War ¢ò,these nations have searched for the Asian values different from the West through recovery of their tradition and identity.The many international exhibitions flourishing in Asia recently illustrate this fact. For example,the Kwangju Biennale, which began in 1995,the Taipei Triennale,the Hukuoka Triennale, the Seoul Mediacity and the Busan Biennale.Attention should be paid to the fact that most olf these exhibitons began after the mid-90s,that is about 50 years after World War ¢ò. They pursue both localism and globalism together with the aim of maintaining their identity and a spirit of mutual exchange. In this view, the Asian capacity for modern culture should be interpreted from a new perspective; An Asian discourse on art, different from the prime importance because art is the most sensitive and essential reflection of a society and culture, and discourse on art provides an essential structure in which art unfolds.

The characteristics of contemporary culture rising in the Asian world is a kind of combination of Western and Oriental culture, suggesting a third possibility. The globalization occuring in the Asian world is different from that of a unified Eurocentric system. Western modern culture unilaterally demands the Non-western to be infiltrated and assimilated and chaos because of it. However such a process of confusion and assimilation, conflict and fusion, has resulted in the creation of their contemporary culture of its unique characters. Suffering such a miserable and hard process of modernization, the Asian world is now producing more various and dynamic results than any other place. The possibility that the Asian world will rise to the center of a new economy, politics and culture is higher than any other time. In the terms of culture, those strongpoint of contemporary art.

Thus, it is regrettable that art discourse which can gain the sympathy of Asian world as well as suggest the vision toward the world has not come out yet.

However,Asian discourse of modern art might appear in a great scale. While western discourse is characterised as pluralism without boundary such a multiculturalism or nomadism, the Asian world will advance toward exerting its creative power based on its own culture. That is ,Spirituality and morality based on naturalism, humanism, confucianism, Buddahism andTaoism can be suggested as an alternative to the limits of western modern culture. The Asian cultural traits-collectiveness as opposed to Western individualism and more humanistic than Western democracy- contain basic structures that can be sharply discriminated from the wests. There is a sceptical view that the Asina world nees its own art discourse since Asian culture is already westernised. I think othereness of Asian will essentially continue unchanged. Rather,at the point of obtaining the capital and physical power that the West had held Asian culture will reveal its own color clearly.

In this view,Asian grand art discourse seems to be a stepping stone to differentiate itself and west. Asian contemporary culture has been West-oriented since modern times is now reaching the stage in which it can exert its own creativity. Korea,swept by ourside powers at the end of the Yi Dynasty asserted " Dongdo Seougi", now stands to clarify who the owner of that form is.It is like lightening a candle in an empty candlestick.the modern culture learned from the West was a culture attaching great importance to productivity and consumpution, unified by function and design,which also made the bridge for the Western capital to dominate wherever continuously. The experimental form of modern art that made its motto "change and expansion"was nothing but a variation to gloss over the Western dominating system. Art was correspondent to ideology and a form of capitalism. Avant-garde art is nothing but an advance from or resistance to it. Asian art discourse breaking from the western ideologies of capitalism or socialism, will show the characters fo Asian contemporary culture. Naturalism and humanism as new philosophies are expected to contribute to advancing contemporary Asian created by a new application of the Oriental spirit.

However, Asian culture is still subject to the Western hegemony. The pluralistic perspectives in culture are not yet realized, maybe because the non-western capacity is comparatively weak. Thus to create grand, strong discourse will be very significant offering a global vision to the Asian world. Only to assert Asianness, Asian spirit or Asian culture in general terms doesn't automatically lead to creating Asian values.

The Asian world should criticise the Western elements blocking its globalization and take a resolut stops to exert its originality. Through trial and error, discussion and consensus, Asian art discourse will appear and play a decisive role in creating the new Asian culture. The Asian world should rather show a new culture vision than perform terrorism in the west like Islamic extremists. We should initiate the west into the new age where the Eurocentric frame and modernism-oriented fantasy are broken. The world order should be shifted into peaceful coexistence. The Asian world,consisting one of the biggest areas in terms of culture,will be bale to offer the counter discourse to the existing Eurocentrism. This is the dream of the great discourse of Asian contemporary art.