ART 5 – ART AND DEMOCRACY
super+Centercourt
Villa Walberta
ExhibitionPanel discussion
PLATFORM EXHIBITION SPACE AND OTHER VENUES
In its exhibition series “Art 5”, Art5 e.V. brings Munich’s artistic positions and their possible interdependencies between democratic processes and artistic freedom into focus in the PLATFORM, in the super+CENTERCOURT and in public spaces. The exhibition title “Art 5” is derived from its double meaning as the abbreviation of Article 5 in the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany and “art” for art. An artist talk, two curatorial tours and two panel discussions address potentials and challenges at the interface of political and artistic action: What are the freedoms, possibilities and limits of aesthetic practices and forms of expression for political realities? What role do works of art have for memory culture and memory politics in Asia, Germany and in a global context?
In the PLATFORM hall, works by five artists from South Korea, Japan and Germany draw attention to global developments: CHUNG Yongchang (KR/DE) questions the living conditions of individuals against the backdrop of repressive systems in large-format portraits, FUJII Hikaru (JP) develops multimedia tableaus that stage art as a possibility for active social action, KIM Siyoung (KR/DE) examines in her models scenic-figurative individual responsibility vis-à-vis actual as well as medially mediated ruptures in civilisation, LEE Dong-Hwan (KR) uses prints to focus on courageous, endangered action by individuals against the powerlessness of dictatorial supremacy, and NOH Suntag (KR) takes photographs of places where government and citizens can no longer or no longer want to engage in dialogue and where controversies escalate into existential conflicts.
Participating artists:
Libia Castro & Ólafur Ólafsson, CHUNG Yongchang, FUJII Hikaru, KIM Seokyung & KIM Unsung, KIM Siyoung, LEE Dong-Hwan, NOH Suntag
FURTHER EXHIBITION VENUES:
04 – 11 July 2021
Villa Waldberta, Palm House, Höhenbergstrasse 25, 82340 Feldafing.
With the exhibition Ausgang, the painter LEE Dong-Hwan (KR) uses Asian ink painting and charcoal drawing to deal with themes such as human absurdity, prejudice, crisis and loss from a dystopian perspective. His paintings show a chaotic world and testify to the hope of finding a way out. The background of his symbolism is the history of South Korea since the last century and the road to democracy. He addresses this theme in an even more concrete form in the exhibition “Art 5 – Art and Democracy”, which will be shown at PLATFORM Munich from 21 July to 15 September 2021.
22 July – 15 September
super+CENTERCOURT, Adalbertstraße 44, 80799 Munich.
The “Statue of Peace” by KIM Seokyung & KIM Unsung (KR) sculpturally addresses society’s treatment of sexualised violence during the Second World War. Their focus is on the removal of taboos through transnational reappraisal.
14 – 23 September
PLATFORM, Kistlerhofstraße 70, House 60, 3rd floor, 81379 Munich.
21 – 30 September
Odeonsplatz underground passage (connection between underground lines U3/6 and U4/5)
27 – 30 September
Cultural pillars and billboards in the urban space
The public encounters a reformulation of all 30 articles of the Declaration of Human Rights. In their “Partial Declaration of Human Wrongs”, the duo Libia Castro & Ólafur Ólafsson (ESP/IS) compare the “universal utopia” of the Declaration of Human Rights with reality.
Curated by: YOO Jae-Hyun, Lena von Geyso and Alexander Steig
In cooperation with: Dr. Christian Landspersky and Adam Langer
Art5 e. V. is a non-profit association founded in 2021 from an international association of artists, curators and theorists to promote the cultural-political dialogue between Europe and Asia. Art5 e. V. aims to establish and support a permanent platform for the exchange, development and presence of transnational cultural perspectives and projects. www.art5.eu
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS:
Libia Castro & Ólafur Ólafsson, CHUNG Yongchang, FUJII Hikaru, KIM Seokyung & KIM Unsung, KIM Siyoung, LEE Dong-Hwan, NOH Suntag.
ACCOMPANYING PROGRAMME:
The following events will take place at the PLATFORM premises unless otherwise noted.
21 July, 7 pm
Opening with CHUNG Yongchang, FUJII Hikaru, KIM Siyoung, LEE Dong-Hwan, NOH Suntag; welcome and introduction: Art5 e. V. and PLATFORM
22 July, 7 pm
Artist talk (German/Korean) with CHUNG Yongchang, LEE Dong-Hwan, KIM Siyoung and the curators
23 July, 5 pm
Curatorial tour in the presence of the artists and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Bavaria Munich Office. Meeting point: super+CENTERCOURT, afterwards together to PLATFORM (total duration 2,5h) limited to 28 persons, Click here to register.
28 July, 6 pm
Panel discussion (German/Korean): Statue of Peace – Art and Forgotten Memory
Guests: KIM Seokyung & KIM Unsung, YAJIMA Tsukasa (digital link-up), Dr. Regina Mühlhäuser; Translation: HAN Nataly Jung-Hwa
11 September, 5 pm
Curatorial tour. Meeting point: super+CENTERCOURT, then together to PLATFORM (total duration 2.5h). Registration via
Please note that you must show proof of vaccination, recovery or a negative test result for admission.
Participation is free of charge.
15 September, 7 pm, PLATFORM exhibition space
Panel Discussion (German/English): Is the Artist More Powerful than the Politician? – Art and Activism. Guests: Libia Castro & Ólafur Ólafsson (digital link-up), Prof. Dr. Sabeth Buchmann, Daniela Trochowski
You can either attend the event on site or follow the livestream online via this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83742909930
Registration for on-site participation via
Please note that you will need to show proof of vaccination, recovery or a negative test result for admission.
Participation is free of charge.
Detailed information:
Panel discussion (German/English): Is the Artist More Powerful than the Politician? – Art and Activism
The panel discussion addresses potentials and challenges at the interface of political and artistic action. What are the freedoms, possibilities and limits of aesthetic practices and forms of expression for political realities?
The starting point for the panel discussion is the project “In Search of Magic – A Proposal for a New Constitution for the Republic of Iceland” (Libia Castro & Ólafur Ólafsson, 2017 – ongoing) and the multi-voice art and activist:ing performance of the same name with “The Magic Team”, which brings to life all 114 articles of the new version of the Icelandic Constitution, written in 2011 by an elected constitutional assembly/council appointed later. The new Icelandic Constitution, also called the “Crowdsourced Constitution”, was the Icelandic people’s response to the political and economic crisis of 2008 to contribute to a more democratic and socially and environmentally just society.
On 20 October 2012, the people voted in favour of the new constitution, but it has not yet been ratified by the Icelandic parliament. The collective performance took place on 3 October 2020 as part of the Reykjavik Arts Festival’s Worlds programme at the Reykjavik Art Museum, on the streets of the city centre, in front of the Prime Minister’s Office and in Austurvöllur Square in front of the Parliament. By initiating and bringing together “The Magic Team”, a collective made up of a broad spectrum of artists:and civic and environmental organisations for the new constitution, the duo is working with the public in the spirit of the great civic movement, calling for a more open, active and direct democracy.
Prof. Dr. Sabeth Buchmann is Professor of Modern and Post-Modern Art History at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Her research focuses on practices of rehearsal and the topos of the unfinished in visual art, film, theatre, theory and politics.
Daniela Trochowski is an executive board member of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and vice president of the Humanist Association Berlin/Brandenburg. The economics graduate was a member of the party executive of DIE LINKE and was State Secretary in the Brandenburg Ministry of Finance until October 2019.
Panel discussion (German/Korean): Statue of Peace – Art and Forgotten Memory (28 July).
The Statues of Peace by KIM Seokyung & KIM Unsung commemorate the over 200,000 girls and women who were sexually violated by the Japanese military throughout the Asia-Pacific region during the Asia-Pacific War (1937-1945). Since 2011, the silent memorials have appeared in various forms around the world, both indoors and outdoors, and have provoked loud opposition: Japanese politicians, government supporters and historical revisionist groups at home and abroad have repeatedly tried to prevent the installation of the figurative sculpture or have it removed. This attempt at denial is not a problem specific to the Japanese government; in almost all societies, dealing with sexual violence is a taboo. The attempts of those affected to make the issue public are an important expression of civil society commitment and are also directed against persistent patriarchal structures. Just as Korean activists use the Statue of Peace to put pressure on the Japanese government, the Statue of Peace also urges the Korean government to deal with the issue and to solve the conflicts together with those affected.
The panel discussion questions artistic, curatorial and political discourses of the sculpture and sheds light on the role of a “Statue of Peace” for remembrance culture and remembrance politics of sexualised violence in World War II in Japan, South Korea and Germany and in a global context.
YAJIMA Tsukasa is a Japanese photographer, journalist and activist. In 2003-2006, YAJIMA developed the photography project Comfort Women in South Korea at the House of Sharing, a care home for survivors of so-called “comfort women/comfort women” in Gwangju, South Korea, where he has been working since 2019.
Dr Regina Mühlhäuser is a historian. She is currently working at the Hamburg Institute for Social Research on research topics including sexual violence in war, gender and sexuality in National Socialism, and the politics of remembrance in Europe and Asia.
