ROME.- Over forty video works and media installations tell the story of the Korean New Media Art scene, from the early works by Nam June Paik, to the experiments carried out in the 1980s, by way of the digital revolution and the cultural changes triggered by the Internet and the social networks. THE FUTURE IS NOW! is organized by MMCA National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Korea and jointly produced with MAXXI. The works of 41 works by 33 artists from Korea are on view from December 19, 2014 to March 15, 2015.

The year 2014 is the 130th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Italy and Korea after the two countries entered into a treaty in June 26, 1884. So far, Korea and Italy have been a close relationship and constantly worked on to strengthen the friendship between the two countries.

This year, both of the countries’ governments are sponsoring many events in Italy and Korea to celebrate the 130th anniversary, and the exhibition at MAXXI is the highlight of these events to celebrate the friendship this year.

THE FUTURE IS NOW! presents MMCA’s New Media Art collection with the aim of reflecting on the “futures” by analyzing New Media Art ever since it was founded in 1987 to the present day. The exhibition does not just include works from the museum collections, but also a vast range of audiovisual materials.

It may seem paradoxical, but if you dream of the future, you need to focus completely on the present, because the future all depends on today’s choices, decisions and actions. This is the meaning of the title of the exhibition taken from the famous words the artist Nam June Paik used to describe his idea of the future.

We know that the first works of New Media Art produced at a time when there was little understanding of this new form of expression are the foundation for the works produced today, a fact that shows once more to what extent today’s actions lay the foundations for our future.

The exhibition hosted in the Sala Gian Ferrari and the Sala Carlo Scarpa is organized in four chronological sections: 1/ Pioneers of New Media Art in Korea, 2/ Combining Art and Technology: Age of Challenges and Experiments, 3/ Emergence of the Internet and Expansion of New Media Art and 4/ Culture Creatives in Digital Age.

Section 1 - Pioneers of New Media Art in Korea

The first section of the exhibition presents works by Korean pioneers of new media art, such as Duck Jun Kwak, Hyun Ki Park and Nam June Paik. Arranged chronologically, these works illustrate the development of new media art in Korea. Video art was initially introduced to Korea in the mid 1960s through the pioneering works of Nam June Paik, such as TV Magnet, Zen for TV, and Highway Hacker. Notably, although Paik immediately gained renown overseas, his works have only been sporadically presented in Korea at the time. This section includes works by Paik and other Korean artists working abroad, like Kwak and early works by artists based in Korea who were seeking to develop their unique artistic vision, such as Hyun Ki Park’s.

Section 2 - Combining Art and Technology: Age of Challenges and Experiments

In the 1980s, video technology and video art began to appear on a grander scale in Korea, starting with Nam June Paik’s three satellite projects in 1984, 1986, and 1988 and the installation of Dadaikseon (The More The Better) at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea in 1988. Other MMCA events that prominently featured video art include the exhibition to celebrate the 1993 Daejeon Expo and the Whitney Biennale. All of these events inspired Korean artists to actively embrace new media as an artistic discipline, culminating in the 1992 New Visions New Voices exhibition, where in a group of artists born in the 1960s unveiled new works that represented their intensive experiments in combining art and technology. Those artists, including Kong Sunghoon, Yook Taejin, Kim Haemin were part of the “video generation,” who developed a new sensitivity to video, growing in conjunction with a deluge of TV programs and Hollywood movies.

Section 3 - Emergence of the Internet and Expansion of New Media Art

With the advent of the new millennium, the digital revolution greatly expanded social access to the internet, and also transformed the modes of contemporary art. By enabling the limitless reproduction of objects, the digital revolution promoted the emergence of new concepts related to the production and reproduction of artworks. The vastly expanded connectivity and reach through cyberspace accelerated globalization going beyond existing local boundaries. Artists born in the 1970s, who launched their career in the late 1990s, created works that reflect the new status of art in a society where the internet, video, and other new media have become deeply integrated into our daily lives. Video art, which once existed only in association with performance or installation art, has now evolved into an independent art form reflecting artists’ unique perspectives on society, and as such, has become an essential pillar of visual culture. These artistic achievements can be seen in video works by Kim Sejin, Im Heungsoon, Ham Yangah and other artists.

New media is not a foreign expressive media for the generation growing in image culture but more familiar and freer one than a pencil or a brush. It expresses various situations in a society they encounter.

Section 4 - Culture Creatives in Digital Age Korean society has experienced new cultural and social changes due to supplies of digital devices and spread of social network services. Various tries such as getting over neoliberalism through sharing, cooperation and a local community are happening. When it comes to art creation, cases to try artistic experiments integrated by many genres across art, design and engineering have gradually increased as not an individual but a collective. You will meet creators to try new artistic experiments with News from nowhere by two artists, Moon Kyung won + Jeon Joonho, who have an exclusive art world respectively through cooperation with experts in various fields such as an architect, a dancer and a designer, BANG & LEE trying to historical and artistic consideration on both danger and possibility of media and Everyware’s activities approaching a warm technology by combining analogue sensitivity with digital technology. Sounds and performances beyond art have been comprehensively accepted and delivered through the cooperation process. Experiments to understand and accept possibilities, meaning and limits of new media through a wide cultural context have been conducted in art world rather than focusing on new media art as a new expressive media.

On December 19, 2014 at 5 p.m. a talk will be given at MAXXI B.A.S.E. (admission free) entitled Korean New Media Art. Soojung Yi of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, and curator of THE FUTURE IS NOW! With the artists Ham Yangah, Bang and Lee and Hyesoo Park, and Mary Lou Emberti Istituto di Studi Orientali - ISO Università degli studi di Roma "La Sapienza", will meet with the museum guests to talk about the development of Korean New Media Art in relation to the social and political events of Korea’s recent history. Hou Hanru Artistic Director of MAXXI will introduce the speaker.

On December 19 at 18.30 and December 20 at 16.00 in the Auditorium of MAXXI, the Korean Culture and Information Service presents a special performance program: Cho Hyeryoung, Kim Hyoyoung with GO Jeongdu and KIM Juheon, will give a musical performance, LEE Seok and Kim Ju Heon will present various multi-media performance. In the last week of the exhibition (March 9~15) there will be also a series of performances of Korean contemporary artists.

For the entire duration of THE FUTURE IS NOW! at MAXXI B.A.S.E. a reading room will be set up with texts and video contributions thanks to which visitors to the exhibition will be able to learn more about the themes and artists displayed.

This exhibition is sponsored by the Korean Embassy in Italy

The press kit and images of the exhibition can be downloaded from the Reserved Area of the Fondazione MAXXI’s website at http://www.fondazionemaxxi.it/area-riservata/ by typing in the password areariservatamaxxi