Park Chanmin and Keum Hyewŏn's Photography Critiques South Korea's Urban Transformation
An article featured in ARTMargins on October 15, 2024, investigates contemporary South Korean photography that reimagines urban environments to critique ongoing spatial transformations. Photographers Park Chanmin and Keum Hyewŏn capture cityscapes dominated by apartment buildings, construction zones, and skyscrapers, yet notably absent of human presence, resulting in visually mundane imagery. Their use of digital techniques serves to anonymize and vacate these spaces, heightening a sense of monotony and discouraging deeper interaction. These works, marked by their focus on the ordinary within a capitalist framework, reflect the commodification of urban areas and the weakened connection between abstract spaces and individuals. The study links their approaches to previous South Korean photographers and similar practices in East Asia, enriching the broader discourse. This piece appears in ARTMargins Volume 13, Issue 3, pages 36-55, accessible through MIT Press with a subscription.
Key facts
- The article was published on October 15, 2024.
- It focuses on South Korean photography from the 21st century.
- Photographers Park Chanmin and Keum Hyewŏn are central to the study.
- The images depict urban landscapes with apartment complexes, construction sites, and skyscrapers but no people.
- Digital manipulation is used to anonymize and empty the photographic space.
- The concept of banality is applied, involving mundaneness under capitalism and a lack of depth.
- The work critiques the commodification of urban space and human relationships in South Korea.
- The article appears in ARTMargins Volume 13, Issue 3, pages 36-55.
Entities
Artists
- Park Chanmin
- Keum Hyewŏn
- Boyoung Chang
Institutions
- ARTMargins
- MIT Press
Locations
- South Korea
- East Asia