2021 Korea Artist Prize Finalists Announced
By Yuna Lee
The finalists for Korea Artist Prize 2021 are (clockwise) CHOI CHAN SOOK, MIN OH, KIM SANGJIN, and BANG JEONG-A. Courtesy the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA), Seoul.
On April 13, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) revealed the four finalists for its 10th Korea Artist Prize: multimedia artist Kim Sangjin; painter and installation artist Bang Jeong-A; and video and performance artists Min Oh and Choi Chan Sook.
The winner will be chosen in December based on new works shown at the upcoming Korea Artist Prize exhibition at MMCA Seoul, slated for October 20 to January 20, 2022. Each finalist has been granted KRW 40 million (USD 35,700) for the production of the new works, while the winner will be awarded an additional KRW 10 million (USD 8,900).
Seoul-based Kim Sangjin, who completed his MFA in 2013 at Goldsmiths, University of London, meditates on the relationship between time, signs, language, objects, and their surroundings through a wide range of mediums including video, sound, and mixed media sculptural installations. Associated with the Minjung and feminist art movements since the 1980s, Busan-based Bang Jeong-A is known for her witty and satirical realist paintings and drawings, which address social and cultural issues that Korean women face. She completed her MFA at Busan’s Dongseo University in 2009, and was awarded the Busan Youth Artist Award in 2002.
Meanwhile, Netherlands-based Min Oh utilizes her musical background to investigate the intersections of music, choreography, and performance in her examination of formative beauty. She completed her MFA at New Haven’s Yale University in 2008 and was a resident artist at Paris’s Fondation Fiminco (2020) and Hermès Foundation Missulsang (2018), among others. Berlin-based Choi Chan Sook experiments with video installations and performance to explore individual and collective memories of historical incidents. She completed her degree at the Berlin University of the Arts in 2008.
Launched in 2012 and co-organized by the SBS Culture Foundation, the annual Korea Artist Prize recognizes and supports artists who propose new directions for contemporary Korean art. This year’s jury comprised MMCA director Youn Bummo; Seoul National University of Science and Technology professor Park So-hyun; curators and also artistic directors of the 13th Gwangju Biennale, Defne Ayas and Natasha Ginwala; Daegu Art Museum director Choi Eun-ju; and Singapore’s National Art Gallery director Eugene Tan.
Yuna Lee is an editorial intern at ArtAsiaPacific.
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