[UC IRVINE] transPOP: Korea Vietnam Remix
Articles & Posts (EN)URL https://uag.arts.uci.edu/exhibit/transpop-korea-vietnam-remix
LEE-Yong-baek, Angel Soldier,2008, inkjet print, courtesy of the artist
transPOP: Korea Vietnam Remix introduces a dynamic mix of sixteen critically acclaimed artists from Korea, Vietnam, and the United States, signaling an unprecedented engagement with the rich historic and contemporary linkages between Korea and Vietnam. The featured artworks variously engage interconnections between the two countries, including the intersections of history, trauma, and contemporary popular culture. The interactions between Vietnam and Korea span centuries but the exhibition focus lies in their shared history of a highly accelerated modernization process with militarized roots and the Cold War.
transPOP Curatorial Statement
transPOP: Korea Vietnam Remix introduces a dynamic mix of sixteen critically acclaimed artists from Korea, Vietnam, and the United States, signaling an unprecedented engagement with the rich historic and contemporary linkages between Korea and Vietnam. The featured artworks explore interconnections between the two countries, including the intersections of history, trauma, and contemporary popular culture. The interactions between Vietnam and Korea span centuries but the exhibition focus lies in their shared history of highly accelerated modernization process with militarized roots and the Cold War. During the American War in Vietnam, the Republic of Korea was the second largest foreign military and economic presence in Vietnam behind the United States, with over 300,000 combat forces and approximately 24,000 skilled workers in exchange for substantial U.S. aid. The financial boon from the involvement in the war played a catalytic role in the development of Korea, laying the foundation for what is now the world’s 12th largest economy. The legacy of the Cold Wars is evident in the large Korean and Vietnamese diasporic communities in the U.S. In Vietnam, this accelerated modernity is evident in the breakneck speed of current economic development, as well as its entry into the World Trade Organization.
Since the late nineties, Vietnam and Korea has witnessed a significant development of popular culture, fostering greater cultural proximity locally and abroad. A global phenomenon known as the “Korean Wave,” has popularized Korean television dramas, pop stars, music, films, and fashion through East, Southeast Asia and beyond since the new millennium. As part of a growing inter-Asian flow of pop culture, the Korean Wave has also been influential in Vietnam, spurring numerous joint efforts between the two countries. “V-Pop” and “Viet Wave,” or Vietnamese pop music and film, has created an explosion of pop stars and media products in Vietnam and overseas. These popular representations of the negotiations between modernity and tradition, in addition to burgeoning consumer culture, suggest new subjectivities. The triangulated relationship between Korea, Vietnam and the U.S. forged through war in Vietnam is also manifest in the increased cross-pollination of cultural influence and exchange.
Artists include: BAE Young Whan / Min Hwai CHOI Chul-Hwan / Tiffany CHUNG / Sowon KWON / Lin + Lam (Lana LIN + H. Lan Thao LAM) / An-My LÊ / Ðinh Q. LÊ / LEE Yong baek / Sandrine LLOUQUET / TRAN Luong / LY Hoàng Ly / NGUYEN Manh Hung / OH Yongseok / Area PARK / Soon-Mi Yoo
Curated by Viet Le and Yong Soon Min
This exhibition is supported by the Korea Foundation, Vietnamese Arts & Letters Association (VAALA) and Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network (DVAN