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DOOSAN Curator Workshop

Artist IncubatingDOOSAN Curator Workshop

Seminar I - Sohyun Ahn

Apr.08.2017

<Writing for Exhibition>


The independent curator and critic Sohyun Ahn was invited to the first seminar of DOOSAN Curators Workshop to talk on the topic of writing for exhibition. During the lecture, she presented text (curatorial text, statements, exhibition preface, exhibition review, work analysis, etc.) related to the exhibitions she has organized.


The competency of a curator shows through strong writing in exhibition. The curatorial statement must faithfully explain the reason why the curator selected the artist, and focus on exploring the appropriate middle point between commending on and criticizing the artist. In writing a preface for a special exhibition, on the other hand, it’s essential to thoroughly examine the relationship between the subject and the work. In the case of the DOOSAN Curators Workshop collaborative exhibition, the exhibition inevitably loses persuasion if it fails to throw a certain point of dispute or agenda. Therefore, what is required in such a collaboratively organized exhibition is a tension-filled text built through the different points of view of the three individual curators.


Although exhibition review writing doesn’t normally follow a particular format, the text Degenerate Art by Yuli Yoon was proposed in this workshop as a playful example combining review of the exhibition as well as personal thoughts of the writer. This text not only proposes critiques on the exhibition, but also deals with the issue of censorship and dispute on art at the time. It was particularly interesting how Sohyun Ahn unraveled the review by using the ‘parody technique’, which she appropriated from Degenerate Art.


The text The Membrane in which Osmotic Pressure of Sensation Occurs, published in the catalogue of the solo exhibition Membrane by Gyungsu AN, is both a study of the artist as well as an exhibition preface. The text began with reading the formal aspects of the work, then delve deeper into the importance of reading the meaning of the work - questioning ‘why’ something was expressed through ‘what medium’ - and on the meaning of seeing what lies beyond, on the other side of what is visible.


Criticism begins by pursuing ‘something strange one senses’. However, one must not stagnate at merely perceiving the senses but go beyond to being able to explain the grounds for such sensations. First, by analyzing the formal aspects of the work, the issues that lie on the other side begin to surface. It’s essential to comprehend the structure in the image (work), and to train oneself how to look and read it in a critical way. What also helps in writing a good criticism is to first mention the visual aspects or formal elements of the work which can be communicated with the audience, then practice pursuing them in the most faithful way as possible. 

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