문화변동기의 미술비평 - 미술비평연구회(‘89~’93)의 현실주의론을 중심으로 (Art Criticism during the Culturally Turbulent Times - Focusing on the Realist Attitude of Research Society for Art Criticism (1989-1993))

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국근현대미술사학회(구 한국근대미술사학회)
· 수록지 정보 : 한국근현대미술사학(구 한국근대미술사학) / 25호 / 111 ~ 143페이지
· 저자명 : 기혜경

초록

Research Society for Art Criticism (hereinafter referred to as “RSAC”), which was a group of the second generation of critics devoted to Minjung (“people’s) art, was established to give theoretical substance to the Minjung art circles’ efforts to transform its structure so as to keep pace with the rapidly changing times and to galvanize change through the practice of art criticism. From the beginning of its establishment, RSAC declared that its creative methodology in relation to Minjung art had its footing in factional realism, which it imported from the field of literature. Factional realism represented the stature of the working class that changed after the June Uprising and the Great Workers’ Struggle in July and August in 1987. And it was an offshoot of socialist realm and was a creative methodology that saw workers’ political consciousness of factionalism as a force to activate the process of change.
As an elite group armed itself with a progressivist view of history, RSAC assumed an open attitude toward a work of art’s form, method and style in its application of realism to the actual practice of criticism by regarding realism as an attitude, rather than confining the scope of factional realism to the style or form of socialist realism. Such an attitude of RSAC resulted in its advocating of those works whose tendencies embodied something other than the stylistic characteristics or mediums of socialist realism contrary to the expectations of the then art scene although it supported factional realism, which was understood as being equal to socialist realism at the time.
Meantime, this attitude of RSAC led naturally to the formation of its keen interest in the element of the medium. Its social-structuralist perception of mediums based on the materialistic view of history gave rise to the extension of the definitions of art and culture: art as visual mediums in general to include the mass media; culture as including popular culture and everyday life rather than being confined to high culture such as great literature and fine arts. In particular, the dramatic change in the political, cultural and social domains of the late 1980s enabled RSAC, which aimed to be a cultural movement from the start, to redirect its course in bringing about change in the realm of culture from placing emphasis on the element of the movement to prioritizing that of culture. Consequently, it took the form of a cultural movement whose objective was to establish alternative spaces rejecting the ideology of the ruling class that penetrated popular culture by revealing the fact that the sphere of culture in which popular culture was also included was a space where the context of cultural and political life and the invisible structure of society were intertwined with each other. It should be noted, however, that the activities of RSAC during this period were narrowly limited narrow to the introduction of cultural theories by means of translated texts or foreign case studies, rather than reflecting the reality of the time.
RSAC’s activities were possible due to the intellectual environment in which the enforcement of ideological taboos was eased to some extent. The undertakings of RSAC, that corresponded to the moves of the then leftist intellectual groups of South Korea, produced the positive outcome of putting an end to the longstanding phenomenon of art’s following the wake of literature by gradually distancing itself from the influences of literature, which were critical in its early phase and by committing itself in the search of art’s own logic that tallied with the practice and environment of art. Despite such an accomplishment of RSAC, the evident rupture between theory and reality detected in its activities indicates the existence of a limitation of the activities of RSAC, which gave priority to theory over reality, and more fundamentally was the product of the rapidly changing circumstances of the time. Moreover, RSAC did no more than an eclectic introduction of the West’s aprioristic theories and thus its activities were unable to exert no impact on either the formulation of art theories or art-critical disciplines or further the development of a cultural movement as a practical variant of them. Nevertheless, it can be rightly said that the creative endeavors of those artists whose concerns lied foremost in social reality throughout the 1990s were nourished by the diverse theories of culture that RSAC introduced to the then art scene, which can be characterized by the absence of theoretical frameworks and by the mindset of RSAC toward art and culture. Furthermore, RSAC’s contribution to the widening of the concept of medium and its structuralist approach to medium laid the foundation for later progressive cultural movements by facilitating a social structural understanding of the art and literature scenes that were being eaten into by the logic of markets under the capitalist social system.
This treatise places its focus on the process through which factional realism and the realist discourse, which were two branches of RSAC’s creative methodology have paved way for contemporary art of today by employing different interpretative approaches in accordance with the expeditious changes in the social circumstances. It should be admitted that this article has not been able to make a comprehensive and multidimensional inquiry into the vast extent of RSAC’s four years of activities and its manifold horizons. The rest of RSAC’s activities that are not been dealt with here will be the subject of my future task.

영어초록

Research Society for Art Criticism (hereinafter referred to as “RSAC”), which was a group of the second generation of critics devoted to Minjung (“people’s) art, was established to give theoretical substance to the Minjung art circles’ efforts to transform its structure so as to keep pace with the rapidly changing times and to galvanize change through the practice of art criticism. From the beginning of its establishment, RSAC declared that its creative methodology in relation to Minjung art had its footing in factional realism, which it imported from the field of literature. Factional realism represented the stature of the working class that changed after the June Uprising and the Great Workers’ Struggle in July and August in 1987. And it was an offshoot of socialist realm and was a creative methodology that saw workers’ political consciousness of factionalism as a force to activate the process of change.
As an elite group armed itself with a progressivist view of history, RSAC assumed an open attitude toward a work of art’s form, method and style in its application of realism to the actual practice of criticism by regarding realism as an attitude, rather than confining the scope of factional realism to the style or form of socialist realism. Such an attitude of RSAC resulted in its advocating of those works whose tendencies embodied something other than the stylistic characteristics or mediums of socialist realism contrary to the expectations of the then art scene although it supported factional realism, which was understood as being equal to socialist realism at the time.
Meantime, this attitude of RSAC led naturally to the formation of its keen interest in the element of the medium. Its social-structuralist perception of mediums based on the materialistic view of history gave rise to the extension of the definitions of art and culture: art as visual mediums in general to include the mass media; culture as including popular culture and everyday life rather than being confined to high culture such as great literature and fine arts. In particular, the dramatic change in the political, cultural and social domains of the late 1980s enabled RSAC, which aimed to be a cultural movement from the start, to redirect its course in bringing about change in the realm of culture from placing emphasis on the element of the movement to prioritizing that of culture. Consequently, it took the form of a cultural movement whose objective was to establish alternative spaces rejecting the ideology of the ruling class that penetrated popular culture by revealing the fact that the sphere of culture in which popular culture was also included was a space where the context of cultural and political life and the invisible structure of society were intertwined with each other. It should be noted, however, that the activities of RSAC during this period were narrowly limited narrow to the introduction of cultural theories by means of translated texts or foreign case studies, rather than reflecting the reality of the time.
RSAC’s activities were possible due to the intellectual environment in which the enforcement of ideological taboos was eased to some extent. The undertakings of RSAC, that corresponded to the moves of the then leftist intellectual groups of South Korea, produced the positive outcome of putting an end to the longstanding phenomenon of art’s following the wake of literature by gradually distancing itself from the influences of literature, which were critical in its early phase and by committing itself in the search of art’s own logic that tallied with the practice and environment of art. Despite such an accomplishment of RSAC, the evident rupture between theory and reality detected in its activities indicates the existence of a limitation of the activities of RSAC, which gave priority to theory over reality, and more fundamentally was the product of the rapidly changing circumstances of the time. Moreover, RSAC did no more than an eclectic introduction of the West’s aprioristic theories and thus its activities were unable to exert no impact on either the formulation of art theories or art-critical disciplines or further the development of a cultural movement as a practical variant of them. Nevertheless, it can be rightly said that the creative endeavors of those artists whose concerns lied foremost in social reality throughout the 1990s were nourished by the diverse theories of culture that RSAC introduced to the then art scene, which can be characterized by the absence of theoretical frameworks and by the mindset of RSAC toward art and culture. Furthermore, RSAC’s contribution to the widening of the concept of medium and its structuralist approach to medium laid the foundation for later progressive cultural movements by facilitating a social structural understanding of the art and literature scenes that were being eaten into by the logic of markets under the capitalist social system.
This treatise places its focus on the process through which factional realism and the realist discourse, which were two branches of RSAC’s creative methodology have paved way for contemporary art of today by employing different interpretative approaches in accordance with the expeditious changes in the social circumstances. It should be admitted that this article has not been able to make a comprehensive and multidimensional inquiry into the vast extent of RSAC’s four years of activities and its manifold horizons. The rest of RSAC’s activities that are not been dealt with here will be the subject of my future task.

참고자료

· 없음