Teaching East Asia: Korea Teaching East Asia: Korea | Page 192

Installation Art and Choi Jeong Hwa
Installation art is a relatively new art form that involves the configuration or “installation’ of
objects in space, such as a room, warehouse or building. The arrangement of material and the
occupation of a certain space form the work of art. Installation art is usually temporary and
relocated to another place.
Choi Jeong Hwa (b. 1961) is one of the most famous contemporary artists in South Korea. He
works with visual arts as both an artist and a designer. Choi finds inspiration in the dynamism
and beauty of the city and its people and wants to bring something new and collectively
shareable into the public space.
Happy Happy by Choi Jeong-Hwa, 2009, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland
Happy Happy invites the viewer into a colorful plastic jungle. When looking closely, one sees a
dazzling display of familiar domestic appliances stretching from the ceiling to the floor. Choi
builds his large installations by combining new and old, unique and mass-produced elements,
“blending Korean pictorial tradition with global consumer culture. From ordinary consumer
goods, such as colorful plastic vessels and cheap toys, Choi builds experiential and immersive
spaces. At the same time, his creations call our attention to the materialism in which we live and
the overabundance of goods and the ubiquity of plastic.”
http://www.e-flux.com/announcements/10980/choi-jeong-hwahappyhappy-together/
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