The new exhibition 'Photograph and History' is a program of 'festival of photography in museums.'
The exhibition started from ruminating the reality of today based on a result by the artist for Korean modern and contemporary history. Photographs focusing on the artists' historical consciousness are diverse. There are three methodologies, 'Document,' 'Monument,' 'Memory,' in this exhibition.
History saves disappearing past from oblivion. And such history is based on documentary. The artist participating in this section are same as historian in terms of archiving the past as history. Their 'restrained' way of record and authorial intervention create values and power of record.
Past does not exist now but monument preserve it. In a broad sense, photograph is also a sort of monument. The artists in this section create photographs as monuments. They replace monuments with photograph.
The artists in 'Memory' part cover their direction, montage, and photoshop quite freely. Sometimes they create fiction with imagination. Figuration of their imagination and past extends a possibility of photo. We do not only focus on the theme 'history' but also pay attention to an extension of convention.
*image (left)
Nanda
Charlie's touting, 2008
inkjet print, 110x110cm
courtesy of the artist