Special Roundtable "The Viable Legacy of Black Mountain College As an Education Lab for the Future"
In the last decade, there has been a resurgence of interest in Black Mountain College (BMC), particularly regarding its progressive educational approaches and artistic experiments, evidenced by exhibitions held in the USA and Germany. Serving as an experimental ground for creative ideas and practices, BMC’s influence on the arts appears substantial. While the artists from BMC made notable contributions to the postwar avant-garde in the USA, the impact of BMC have extended beyond the realm of art.
This talk examines BMC’s holistic approach to education, particularly noteworthy given the socio-political context of its existence from 1933 to 1957, marked by the looming threat of totalitarianism on liberal democracy. Educating individuals to embody sovereignty emerged as an urgent objective. With a mission to educate active agents cable of resisting totalitarian ideologies, BMC sought to provide an educational environment fostering students’ exploration of their potential for independent growth.
Central to BMC’s progressive curriculum was a focus on creativity, positioning the arts as a cornerstone of educational practice. Active learning was encouraged, intertwining learning with experiential engagement. This approach helped students transform their personalities and life trajectories. BMC's legacy offers valuable insights and inspiration for shaping 21st-century education, which is inclusive, innovative, and responsive to the diverse needs and challenges of today's learners.
The Viable Legacy of Black Mountain College as an Education Lab for the Future View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Hee-young Kim
In the last decade, there has been a resurgence of interest in Black Mountain College (BMC), particularly regarding its progressive educational approaches and artistic experiments, evidenced by exhibitions held in the USA and Germany. Serving as an experimental ground for creative ideas and practices, BMC’s influence on the arts appears substantial. While the artists from BMC made notable contributions to the postwar avant-garde in the USA, the impact of BMC have extended beyond the realm of art. This talk examines BMC’s holistic approach to education, particularly noteworthy given the socio-political context of its existence from 1933 to 1957, marked by the looming threat of totalitarianism on liberal democracy. Educating individuals to embody sovereignty emerged as an urgent objective. With a mission to educate active agents cable of resisting totalitarian ideologies, BMC sought to provide an educational environment fostering students’ exploration of their potential for independent growth. Central to BMC’s progressive curriculum was a focus on creativity, positioning the arts as a cornerstone of educational practice. Active learning was encouraged, intertwining learning with experiential engagement. This approach helped students transform their personalities and life trajectories. BMC's legacy offers valuable insights and inspiration for shaping 21st-century education, which is inclusive, innovative, and responsive to the diverse needs and challenges of today's learners.
Paik Nam June Effect
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Sooyoun Lee
MMCA’s special exhibition for 2022—Paik Nam June Effect—examines the situation of Korean art in the 1990s in a new light, based on themes previously addressed by historical exhibitions organized by Nam June Paik and the MMCA, such as Nam June Paik, Video Time, Video Space (2022), and the Whitney Biennale Seoul (1993). Following his return to Korea in 1984, after more than 30 years overseas, Paik made strategic moves, as a planner and translator of cultures, to connect Korea with the world during the 1980s and 90s. In particular, he took advantage of the specific circumstances of the 1986 Asian Games, the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and the 1993 Daejeon Expo to engage in a broad scope of activities based on his connections across political and business circles. Producing remarkable outcomes from his organizing of numerous exhibitions, events and advertisements while mobilizing his international network to help establish the Gwangju Biennale in 1995 and the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Paik rose as a national star, transcending the boundaries of art. His unprecedented global method of activity, introduction of new media, and efforts to discover and promote the charm of Korean identity throughout the world, while emphasizing global Korea, had great influence not only on the Korean art scene of the 1990s—a time when post-modernism and post-colonialism were on the rise amidst globalization and development of modern science and technology—but also on contemporary art today.
