Study of 20th-century Curating 

History always takes the pioneer’s side. Even records that claim to be the most neutral in stance are subject to the prejudice and bias of the chronicler. What can readers or producers acquire from the Western linguistic field of curating that express the roles, actions, and forms of art, artists, and exhibitions? In other words, this question covers the problem of using a universal language created extraneously to discuss stories on imperceptible locality. Upon reexamination, this issue returns to a question asked by many books on curating: How can curating escape the critical error of single authorship and rationalize the problems of selection, decision, and distribution to allow for versatile connections?

– Miji Lee (DCW 2022)

The history of art and exhibitions and exhibition methodologies are separate research areas as well as important academic disciplines, but people often forget the importance of learning once they leave school. Korea has relatively few routes to access publications on exhibition methodologies, which mostly deal with Western theories. I have long been aware of this inadequate understanding of Korea’s exhibition history. Hyunjoo Byeon mentioned this in her lecture and explained what efforts are going into producing and distributing translations. For me, the seminar was a reminder of the importance of studying and closely examining past references to avoid the mistake of believing the creation of something new. 

– Min Ah Lee (DCW 2022)

Curatorial practices have been called several terms such as curating, curation, curatorial, etc. The seminar covered examples of these terms in the historical timeframe of the 20th century and practical incidents that do not fall under one meaning. The changing recognition of curators, process of curating, and objective of curating—how do curators, the movements they interweave, and the meaning created by their actions interact within a single unit called an exhibition? Is an exhibition a unit of time or space? The seminar offered a chance to consider the historical space of past exhibitions and the spacetime created by today's editions. Questions remain over how the topography of contemporary exhibitions is shaping history and what history it can make. 

– Minjoo Lee (DCW 2022)