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Opening remarks at the Special Lecture by Professor Jungmann (25 August 2017)
Professor Jungmann, Professor Thomsen, distinguished experts in Korean studies, I am very much honored and privileged today to meet Professor Burglind Jungmann, a leading scholar of Korean studies. I am looking forward, a great deal, to listening to her Keynote Lecture on this “Korean Art and Cultural Day” of the 2nd Conference of the European Association for Asian Art and Archaeology.
Congratulations Professor Jungmann for this meaningful lecture.
In 2008, when I was working at the Korean Embassy in Belgium, my Embassy and the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels (BOZAR) co-organized a “Korea Festival”
featuring a variety of Korean traditional and contemporary art exhibitions and cultural events.
Because we assumed that most Europeans were exposed to East Asian culture represented exclusively by China and Japan, our utmost priority was selecting themes and exhibition items that could represent the unique identity of Korean culture.
What was interesting was that, like Korea, Belgium had a similar identity problem between France and Germany. Therefore, experts of BOZAR were on board to select and exhibit items which could demonstrate the uniqueness of Korean culture as much as possible. We followed most of Belgian proposals, with some Korean fine touches, and it was a great success.
Based on my experience with the BOZAR experts and other experiences, I have come to believe that outside experts can sometimes be more objective in identifying characteristics of culture unique to a country than insiders. Or sometimes it‟s about bringing a creative, fresh way of thinking about a culture.
For example, I learned that Professor Jon Carter Covell, the late American expert on Asian culture and art, described Chinese, Japanese and Korean culture by three (3) C‟s. Chinese culture was described by C for „controlled‟ and Japanese
„contrived‟.
Meanwhile, Korean culture was labeled ‟casual‟. I find the concept intriguing, though perhaps it should be more a „P‟ for practical: contemporary Korea and the
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Joseon Dynasty focused on supporting the ordinary folks, such as inventing the Korean alphabet that is easily digestible for the ordinary people and creating plain porcelains and maksabals that are useful for everyday use.
However, the sophisticated artworks from the Shilla and Goryeo Dynasties are still alive deep in our psyche, too.
The period between the late 19th and early 20th century when Messieurs Holmes and London took these photographs represents one of the darkest and toughest periods in Korean history. Korea was forced to open its doors to the world and lost its sovereignty to Japan. The ruling class that had led the Joseon Dynasty for 500 years based on Confucianism stopped working properly and failed to adapt itself to outside changes. In fact, the government then exacerbated political instability, social irregularities and exploitations by local officials. The economy was in a dire condition and domestic politics were heavily intervened and influenced by surrounding powers like China, Japan, and Russia.
I think the photographs, and the texts attached thereto, would have described these difficulties very well. With this historical context in hand, I am very much curious and am looking forward to listening to the lecture of Professor Jungmann, who will offer us many thoughts about the Korean history and characteristics of Korean culture.
Again, I would like to thank and congratulate Professor Jungmann for her precious lecture this evening!
Thank you very much. 감사합니다.
