Lee Kun-Yong on Body, Place, and the Future of Art

In an interview, pioneering Korean avant-garde artist Lee Kun-Yong (born 1942, Sariwon) discusses his practice rooted in the body and its relationship to place. A key figure of the Korean avant-garde and founding member of the Space and Time group, Lee developed his experimental performances during the 1970s under South Korea's martial law. He earned a BFA from Hongik University (1967) and an MA in art education from Keimyung University (1982). His notable group exhibitions include the Paris Biennale (1973), São Paulo Biennial (1979), Gwangju Biennale (2000), and Busan Biennale (2014). His famous Bodyscape series records body movements on canvas. Lee states that the future means 'another place and another body' and warns that AI's virtual world represents a crisis, calling for post-ethnic, post-national humanity and interdependent physical solidarity. He lives and works in Seoul.