또 다른 후기자본주의,또 다른 문화논리: 최정화의 플라스틱 기호학 (Another Late Capitalism, Another Cultural Logic: The Plastic Semiotics of Choi Jeong-hwa)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국근현대미술사학회(구 한국근대미술사학회)
· 수록지 정보 : 한국근현대미술사학(구 한국근대미술사학) / 26호 / 305 ~ 339페이지
· 저자명 : 윤난지

초록

In this article whose objective is to interpret contemporary Korean art practices since the 1990s from the perspective that sees them as the signs of the social contexts of the time, I intend to place focus on the art of Choi Jeonghwa (1961- ) as a prototypical instance for it.
Fredric Jameson accounted for the epochal cultural changes brought by late capitalism by linking them to the changes in the mechanism of signification itself: He paid attention to the phenomenon in which with the breakdown of the depth model, which was based on the one-to-one correspondence between the signifier and the signified, the meaning of the sign was to be formed as it moved in-between floating signifiers divorced from signifieds. In other words, he explained the semiotics of space-time plasticity that is, the plastic semiotics the cultural logic of late capitalism.
Such a cultural logic is detected in Korean society in the 1990s, and Korean art of the time was not exempt from it. Externally, the emergence of such a cultural logic in Korea seems to be a replay of what happened in the West, but internally, the case in Korea differs from that in the West. That is, in the case of Korea another late capitalism and another cultural logic within it are witnessed. The variable of 'difference' here is above all Korea's geopolitical position as a Third World country. Korea's capitalism and late capitalism have been inevitably subject to the process of being adapted in accordance with the specific domestic and foreign circumstances, and the cultural logic, which operates within them, have undergone the same process. The Jamesonian cultural logic, whose focus was placed on the plasticity of a specific cultural area, extended its influence on the relationship with other cultures, and thus the very plasticity was much more diversified and all-directional so as to form another version of cultural logic.
The works of Choi Jeonghwa, which make use of not only plastic materials but a plastic semiotics as well, demonstrate such a cultural logic argued by Jameson on one hand and on the other pass through the meanings originated from the specific geopolitical conditions of Korea in the 1990s and onward. His plastic objects share the semiotics of plasticity of Pop Art or postmodern art and further elaborate it in still more microscopic and hybrid ways. In particular, his objects, which embrace yet another dimension of locality by incorporating vernacular elements, clearly exemplify another version of the cultural logic of late capitalism.
His spatial designs are also sites of plasticity, which run through a variety of spacetimes. His spaces share both the aesthetics of nostalgia, which is one of the cultural symptoms of late capitalism, and the rebellious and idealistic factors inherent in that aesthetics. On the other hand, they are particularly Korean. Designed as part of the reconstruction of the architectural ruin of the specific area of Seoul, they encourage the formation of diverse responses and interpretations as they reveal the manifold context of the modernization of Korea. It can be thus said that his spaces are indexes which evince the existence of not one but many late capitalisms and that of many cultural logics that operate within them.
The persona of Choi as an artist has been constructed out of plastic signs: his artistic endeavors that freely cross not only the boundaries between different mediums but also those of geographical ones; his distinctive looks and fashion; his ever-changing artistic attitude. Such a plastic image of Choi as an artist is the product of the circumstances of Korean society since the 1990s, which is a standard example of the period of late capitalism that is characterized by plural identities, and hence it has become its icon. As examined so far, the plastic semiotics of Choi prevails every aspect of his world, his installations, his spatial designs, and his persona as an artist. He has had command of such a semiotics that speaks of the plasticity of signs, and by doing so he asserts ultimately the plasticity of 'art'. His art is another sign that strips off the sign of art, which traverses the boundary between the sacred and the vernacular, so as to reveal its emptiness.

영어초록

In this article whose objective is to interpret contemporary Korean art practices since the 1990s from the perspective that sees them as the signs of the social contexts of the time, I intend to place focus on the art of Choi Jeonghwa (1961- ) as a prototypical instance for it.
Fredric Jameson accounted for the epochal cultural changes brought by late capitalism by linking them to the changes in the mechanism of signification itself: He paid attention to the phenomenon in which with the breakdown of the depth model, which was based on the one-to-one correspondence between the signifier and the signified, the meaning of the sign was to be formed as it moved in-between floating signifiers divorced from signifieds. In other words, he explained the semiotics of space-time plasticity that is, the plastic semiotics the cultural logic of late capitalism.
Such a cultural logic is detected in Korean society in the 1990s, and Korean art of the time was not exempt from it. Externally, the emergence of such a cultural logic in Korea seems to be a replay of what happened in the West, but internally, the case in Korea differs from that in the West. That is, in the case of Korea another late capitalism and another cultural logic within it are witnessed. The variable of 'difference' here is above all Korea's geopolitical position as a Third World country. Korea's capitalism and late capitalism have been inevitably subject to the process of being adapted in accordance with the specific domestic and foreign circumstances, and the cultural logic, which operates within them, have undergone the same process. The Jamesonian cultural logic, whose focus was placed on the plasticity of a specific cultural area, extended its influence on the relationship with other cultures, and thus the very plasticity was much more diversified and all-directional so as to form another version of cultural logic.
The works of Choi Jeonghwa, which make use of not only plastic materials but a plastic semiotics as well, demonstrate such a cultural logic argued by Jameson on one hand and on the other pass through the meanings originated from the specific geopolitical conditions of Korea in the 1990s and onward. His plastic objects share the semiotics of plasticity of Pop Art or postmodern art and further elaborate it in still more microscopic and hybrid ways. In particular, his objects, which embrace yet another dimension of locality by incorporating vernacular elements, clearly exemplify another version of the cultural logic of late capitalism.
His spatial designs are also sites of plasticity, which run through a variety of spacetimes. His spaces share both the aesthetics of nostalgia, which is one of the cultural symptoms of late capitalism, and the rebellious and idealistic factors inherent in that aesthetics. On the other hand, they are particularly Korean. Designed as part of the reconstruction of the architectural ruin of the specific area of Seoul, they encourage the formation of diverse responses and interpretations as they reveal the manifold context of the modernization of Korea. It can be thus said that his spaces are indexes which evince the existence of not one but many late capitalisms and that of many cultural logics that operate within them.
The persona of Choi as an artist has been constructed out of plastic signs: his artistic endeavors that freely cross not only the boundaries between different mediums but also those of geographical ones; his distinctive looks and fashion; his ever-changing artistic attitude. Such a plastic image of Choi as an artist is the product of the circumstances of Korean society since the 1990s, which is a standard example of the period of late capitalism that is characterized by plural identities, and hence it has become its icon. As examined so far, the plastic semiotics of Choi prevails every aspect of his world, his installations, his spatial designs, and his persona as an artist. He has had command of such a semiotics that speaks of the plasticity of signs, and by doing so he asserts ultimately the plasticity of 'art'. His art is another sign that strips off the sign of art, which traverses the boundary between the sacred and the vernacular, so as to reveal its emptiness.

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