상징과 소통

Symbol and Communication: Where is the public art located in S. Korea?

This paper is intended to criticize the history and context of the public art projects at South Korea since 1945 in order to analyze the birth and the changes of Korean public art on the assumption that the most of the public art projects organized and hosted by the national and local governments after 2000 are the one of the cultural events structured as the cultural strategies and policies in the Neoliberal era. Public art is always aroused controversy beyond time and space; likewise, public art in the Korean context has been provoking argument and discussion socially and culturally. But the most of the arguments and issues only deal with the aesthetic and artistic achievements of the individual projects, and therefore could not explain the socio-political context related with the public art projects. So, this paper is intended to analyze how the meaning of the public art has been invented and articulated under the socioeconomic and political changes of South Korea. In the process of the research, this paper concentrates attention on two points in time of the Korean contemporary history; one is the year 1987 and the other is the year 1997. The 1987 Democratization Movement brought about the changes of the political system and the 1997 financial crisis imposed Neo-liberalism on Korean society. These symbolic events changed and transformed its characters. So this paper critically analyzes how public art is invited by the government, articulated by the Korean contemporary art scene and activated in the communities under tree historical moments; Nation-state building, the spread of democracy and the imposition of neo-liberalism And this paper will argue that public art has teen effectively abused as one of the cultural strategies of government in the Neo-1ilJeral Era and activated to control our everyday-lives under the concept of ‘symbols’ and ‘communication’ by the government.