| Hongik festival celebrates new art center |
Dec 05 2012 |
Hongik University, one of the nation’s most prestigious universities for fine arts, design and art theory, is holding a large-scale festival to celebrate the opening of its new center on Daehangno Street in central Seoul.
The art center - a building with 15 stories above ground and six underground - is located about 9.5 kilometers (six miles) northeast of the university’s main campus on Hongdae Street in western Seoul.
The 2012 Hongik International Art Festival, with 900 pieces by 550 artists ranging from renowned veterans such as photographer Bae Bien-u to up-and-coming students, will take place at both the new art center and the main campus from next Monday.
The art center will be holding exhibitions of works by professors and students of Hongik University as well as by artists affiliated with six universities across China and Japan.
The participants include Moon Bong-sun, an artist known for black-and-white pine tree paintings in Korean traditional methods and a professor at Hongik, and Kenji Yanobe, a Japanese artist known for his grotesque sculptures inspired by toy robots and a professor at Kyoto University of Art and Design.
Visitors will also see paintings by Guan Zun, a student from China’s Tsinghua University; photography by Yukiko Taguchi, a student from Japan’s Musashino Art University; and works of many other students.
At the main campus of Hongik University will be a small-scale show of beloved Korean early 20th-century masters including Lee Jung-seob (1916-56) and Park Soo-keun (1914-65). This will be held at the Hongik University Museum at the center of the campus. An art market will also be presenting some 160 pieces by budding artists who graduated from the university. The fair will be held at the Hongik Museum of Art near the main gate of the campus.
The highlight of the exhibitions at the main campus will be “PROJECT 72-1: School as a Laboratory,” which will take place at the now-defunct buildings of the elementary school attached to the university’s Education College.
The elementary school relocated from the university campus, so the buildings have been used to house artists since November. The exhibition will show site-specific works by dozens of artists including Koo Dong-hee, who won this year’s Misulsang, an art award granted by the French luxury brand Hermes.
By Moon So-young
* The exhibition runs through Dec. 27. Admission is free. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, call (02) 320-3272.
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