Hyeonjoo Kim, Professor at Chugye University for the Arts

The last seminar of DOOSAN Curator Workshop was conducted on November 16th, with a lecture on Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s Work by professor Hyeonjoo Kim from Chugye University for the Arts. Kim had translated the catalogue The Dream of the Audience: Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951-1982) held at the Berkeley Art Museum in 2001, and has presented thesis papers including Art by Contemporary Asian-American Women and Post-Colonial Feminism, and Korea/USA/Women: The Diasporic Identity of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha and Yong-soon Min. Kim, who had researched Cha and feminist art, was invited to share her ideas about Translate into Mother Tongue ? an exhibition which is being co-organized by the three participants of the workshop ? through looking at Cha’s work Dictee.

The workshop started off with Kim sharing her ideas about the exhibition and was followed by a critical and constructive Q and A on the selected exhibition title, the directivity of the exhibition and its concept. By going over parts that should not be overlooked in the process of actualizing a certain word or concept in the exhibition space, this seminar offered the opportunity for the participants to reflect on the most important issue of ‘exhibition planning’ in this workshop.

Most of the workshop focused on Cha’s work Dictee, which Kim explained has been reinterpreted and criticized four times since the publication of the book. Each interpretation looked at Dictee through a theoretical background of different times including discourse on Multiculturalism, Feminism, and Post-Colonialism. The participants also discussed how Dictee would be reinterpreted today. Kim also analyzed Dictee in detail, focusing on issues that are dealt with importance in Cha’s body of work, including the exchange of presence and absence, application of filmic technique, text written with body, nonlinear writing, and articulation before the symbolic. Lastly, Kim wrapped up the workshop by sharing her personal experiences translating The Dream of the Audience, and the points that were personally inspiring for her.