Park Hyunki's 1981 Performance Revisited at Gallery Hyundai in New York
From November 6, 2025, to February 14, 2026, Gallery Hyundai in New York will showcase Park Hyunki's reinterpretation of his 1981 performance, Pass Through the City. This original piece involved moving a boulder embedded with mirrors across Daegu, South Korea, on a flatbed truck during the martial law period under President Park Chung-hee (1972–1979). The exhibition will include photographs, a video lasting an hour that captures public reactions, and an analog monitor that displays tracking devices. In 1981, Park transmitted live surveillance footage at Maekhyang Gallery, shortly after the advent of color television in Korea. This performance examined the duality of technology as both a facilitator of art and a means of control, probing themes of visibility and authority within state-supervised media. The article was written by Min Park, a Seoul-based writer.
Key facts
- Park Hyunki's Pass Through the City performance occurred in 1981 in Daegu, South Korea.
- The performance involved a mirror-embedded boulder transported on a flatbed truck through urban streets.
- Gallery Hyundai in New York is revisiting the work from November 6, 2025, to February 14, 2026.
- Park graduated in 1967 and moved from Seoul to Daegu, reflecting challenges for artists in the 1970s.
- The Yushin government (1972–1979) imposed martial law, increasing censorship and surveillance.
- Avant-garde collectives AG (Avant-Garde) and ST (Space and Time) were active in the late 1960s.
- The exhibition includes photographs, CCTV footage videos, and analog monitors showing tracking devices.
- Park broadcast live surveillance at Maekhyang Gallery in 1981, after color TV entered Korea in December 1980.
Entities
Artists
- Park Hyunki
- Min Park
Institutions
- Gallery Hyundai
- Daegu Bank
- Maekhyang Gallery
- AG (Avant-Garde)
- ST (Space and Time)
Locations
- New York
- United States
- Daegu
- South Korea
- Seoul