김달진
도덕교과서 2, 금성출판사, 2013,
<만나고 싶어요> | 직업 속 가치 탐구|에 '자신의 취미를 직업으로 만들다 - 김달진'
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Forty-five Years of Collecting and My Heart Still Flutters
Kim Dal-Jin
Kimdaljin Art Archives and Museum
Peoplerefer to me by many titles. The one I most often hear is “Resource CenterManager” because I am Director of KimdaljinArt Institute. Museum professionals refer to me as “Museum Director”. Somecall me “President” because I publish <SeoulArt Guide>. Others use “Chairman” because I preside over the Korean Art Archive Institute. A textbookon Ethics published in 2013 referred to me as an “archivist”. In their regularcolumn <The hidden value of aprofession> they told my story under the title <Turning your hobby into a profession - the story of Kim Daljin>.To be more precise they described me as a “curator-manager of art archives andarchival exhibitions”.
Ⅰ. Resource Center Manager
Bornin Okcheon-gu, Yiwonmyeon, Daedong-ri, I was in my fourth year at Daesong Elementary School when my motherpassed away. With the help of my older brother I moved to Chungnam Middle School in Daejeon. In those times I used tovigorously collect anything from cigarette boxes to chewing gum wraps, poststamps etc.Whenever a commemorative stamp was released I was first to run tothe post office and buy one. It was in those years that I started cutting outpictures of famous paintings from women’s magazines such as <Housewife Life>, <Lady>,<Women>. Later, when I moved to Seoul to attend high school, I oftenstrolled around the second hand book stores near Cheonggyecheon 6, 7, 8-ga to buy art textbooks and magazines.Sometimes I would haggle with the shop owner to give me only that page of themagazine which I needed. Now that I think about it I feel regretful that I keptonly the cut-outs but not the magazines.
Themoment that changed my life came one day in the summer of 1972 when I was in my3rd year of high school. The exhibition <SixtyYears of Korean Modern Art> had just opened at the Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) and seeing all thosemasterpieces in life-size left a big impression on me. Until then I had onlyseen the Western masterpieces in the magazines. The MMCA had been establishedin 1969 and the exhibition in question was a historical review of Modern artcreated between 1900 and 1960. It was in that same time that the oil paintingsof Go Hee-Dong, the first Korean artist to study at Tokyo Art School, were discovered in a closet. The entry fee forGyeongbokgung Palace was 70 won, for the exhibition itself - 60 won and thebrochure had cost 200 won. Those are currently in Kimdaljin Art Museum and an inscription on the entry ticket let usknow it is a student ticket. After that I began going around the galleries inInsa-dong to collect exhibition pamphlets and later in 1978 started working at<Exhibitions Monthly> magazine.In 1981 I moved to MMCA which made collecting a lot more easier.
Uponthe opening of Kimdaljin Art Archives andMuseum in 2008 the first items sold at KobayAuction were the first two issues of <Bulletin of the Paintings and Calligraphy Society>, Korea’sfirst ever art magazine which was in print for 22 years starting 1921. I had achance to see the magazine in 1983 when I was working at Deoksugung ,which ispart of MMCA. At that time we were working on an exhibition called <Periodicals of Modern Korean Art> andwe had that magazine on lease from bibliographer Ahn Chun-Geun. Now that samemagazine was sold at auction. This rare book is also mentioned on page 38 ofthe first issue of <Art>magazine in 1964 and on page 128 of <TheBirth of Modern Korean Art> by Lee Gu-Yeol published in 1972. Kobay Auction took place once everymonth on the 6th floor of Sueun AssemblyHouse Building. I also check online used bookstores which is where I foundAndreas Eckardt’s <HISTORY OF KOREANART> from 1929. But direct purchase is not the only way we grow ourcollection. We receive many donations and we publish all of them on ourhomepage Daljin.com>Community>Notices.Regular donors include the families of Yu Yang-Wook, Lee Gyu-Il, Kim In-Hwan,Im Beom-Taek, Jo Mu-Ha, Kim Seung-Deok. The family of Yu Yang-Wook has donatedmore than 2000 books to our archive and in 2012 we organised <Exhibition of Yu Yang-Wook’s Donated Works>.We have received donations from galleries as well. These include a 2009 sketchby Park Gu-Seok and 13 artworks by Park Deon donated by President Shin Wook-Jinof Gonggan Gallery in Busan. Artisthave contributed artworks, too. In 2009 we bought some of the works displayedat our exhibition <History of KoreanArt + Artists’ Portraits>.
Ⅱ. Archivist
Collectingprinted materials taught me the importance of keeping records. What started ascataloguing the serial articles in art magazines grew to compiling index cardsof important art groups and individuals. In 1978 we even entered one of ourworks - <Documents on Modern KoreanArt> - in Shin Dong A’snon-fiction competition. We created an <ExhibitionsDiary> where we recorded the name of every exhibition, its opening andclosing dates, location, notable participating artists and the relatedpublicity materials. While working at <ExhibitionsMonthly> we ran series on <DeceasedModern Korean Art Professionals Index>, <Modern Korean Art Groups and Important Exhibitions>, <Japanand Korean Modern Art>. Later we created yearbooks of all exhibitions ofthat year <Youlhwadang Art Yearbook1984-89> and <CombinedYearbook> for 1990, 91, 92, 95, 98. Every year since 2006 we alsoprovide the Korean Culture and ArtAssociation with analyses of the national art scene and an index of theexhibitions for their <Arts andCulture Yearbook>. For several years we gave the exhibition index to<Art Monthly> as well for their<Korean Art Yearbook>.Additionally, we have also published chronological tables, artworld annualreviews etc. in <Art Monthly>,<Gana Art>, <Art World>.
Toaddress the importance of recording and archiving I wrote an article called<Misleading the Viewer - A Proposalfor Accurate Recording and Document Preservation> for the autumn issueof <Seon Art> in 1985. In it Iexposed the amount of mistaken and inaccurate information in artists’biographies, brochures, timetables, yearbooks etc. We disclosed errors in thestatistics of the exhibition records for 1983 amounting to 1272 cases in <Korean Art Newspaper>, 1695 cases in<Arts and Culture Yearbook>,1775 cases in <Korean ArtYearbook>, and 2005 cases in <YoulhwadangArt Yearbook>. I thought it regretful that such errors are reproducedand become the base for misrecorded history. Once a reporter asked me if I amnot being to pedantic about such inaccuracies. I told him that because I ammore interested in the subject than ordinary people I notice such things moreeasily.
Generally,when we speak about people of the arts we think of artists but I also gatherand record materials related to art criticism, history, curating,administration, conservation and restoration, areas of the art which are notdirectly related to artwork production. After analysing and systemising thematerials we published an index of all art professionals in 30-part series in<Seoul Art Guide> from 2006 to2009. To supplement this research in 2010 we published the first part of <A Directory of Korean Art Professionals>whose third part included 654 art professionals, more than ever before. Thisdirectory now contains 4909 people born after 1850. My view is that we shouldnot remember only the most famous ones but also those who come in second andthird because they add to the richness of Korean art history.
Ⅲ. Researcher
Iam also a researcher of contemporary Korean art. I obtained my master’s thesesin 1999 with a research paper titled <KoreanArt Archives: Current State and Ways to Improve> which I have publiclypresented on six more occasions after that. The results of our ongoinginvestigation reach the world through our archival exhibitions. Rather thansimply gathering and displaying old documents, I prefer to focus on producingacademic materials. We publish timetables, interviews, essays, research papersand seminar books prepared in partnership with critics and curators to increasethe scholarly value of our collection. So far we have published <Long-term Art Publications 1921-2008>,<60 Years of Korean Art on the GlobalScene>, <60 Years of ForeignExhibitions in Korea>, <100Years of Korean Art Groups>, <Textbookon Modern and Contemporary Korean Art>, <History of Korean Art ContestExhibitions> and more. In 2014 we won the award for “Art Writing andPublishing”. We also run projects that enrich the preliminary database onKorean art such as <Directory ofKorean Art Professionals Ⅰ>, <Korean Art Groups Database 1945-1999>,<Korean Exhibitions Database Ⅰ 1945-1969>.
Iwas among the founding members of the KoreanContemporary Art Society in 1993 and the Society for Important Figures in Art History in 2004 butunfortunately our work there did not go beyond organising a few conferences andseminars. For a while I was part of the KoreanCurators’ Association and its vice-president between 2011 and 2013. In 2004I represented Korea in the international symposium <Towards East-Asian Cultural Heritage Information Network>organised by Hyogo Prefecture Museum,under the supervision of the Japanese Institutefor Art Documentation (JIAD). My presentation was titled <Popularisation of Korean culturalheritage>. That year was the 15th anniversary of JIAD and the symposiumwas part of their third forum, an even without an analogue in Korea. In July2012 we started working on the creation of KoreanArt Archive Association which held its opening ceremony in November 2013 inYesulgaejib in Dongsung-dong and I was appointed as president. Currently the Association consists of Museum Archive Department, Academic Departmentand Exhibition Department andincludes visual art professionals, art researchers and archivists working onthe correct recording of Korean art history, cataloguing, and analysis ofcurrent art issues at home and abroad.
Ⅳ. Theorist
Uponcompleting my secondary education and still passionately collecting, I cameacross <Exhibition Monthly> in Dongdaemun Library. I sent a letter tothe magazine requesting a face-to-face meeting with the editor and eventuallyended up working there. The office was located next to Namdemun police stationin an area which is now called Seoul,Jung-gu, Yang-dong. This is the place where I learnt how to find news,write articles, plan periodicals, prepare serial articles and edit. Youngpeople these days will be unable to understand those days spent cutting outphotos and articles from newspapers. Then came the 1980s and the whirlwind ofmedia mergers which led to the closure of many outlets - <Dong-yang Broadcasting>, <Dong-ABroadcasting>, <Deep-rooted tree> - including ours.
Thisis how I started working at MMCA, first as temporary employee (1981-86), thenas a civil servant 7th rank (1987-89) and from 1990 as a technician 10th rank.I felt that the effort and passion I put into my work were underappreciated andeventually left the museum. I moved to work at Gana gallery where the director Mr. Lee Ho-Jae appointed me asmanager of Gana Art and Culture Institute.In those times I authored numerous articles drawing attention to the importanceof art publications, and the lack of reliable record-keeping, various analysesand statistics on exhibitions, specific stories, art contests, prizes andmagazines. My works written throughout the 80s and until the mid-90s were oftenquoted in other publications. Among my most notable works include <Media outlets and the business of art, pastand present: something has to change> published in <Gana Art>’s edition of June 1995 and<Journalism: the era of professionaljournalists is still far off> published in <Art Monthly>‘s edition of January 1999.
OfficiallyI was manager of Gana’s ResourceCenter but I also attended the editorial meetings of <Gana Art> magazine where I wrote articles and took interviews.Together we made the pocket-sized <Galleryand Museum Exhibition Guide> modeled on a similar booklet director LeeHo-Jae brought from France. Later we changed the name to <Seoul Exhibitions Guide>. In December2001 I left Gana and started <Seoul Art Guide> - my wife became theofficial publisher, I the editor and we registered the company as a periodicalpublication under the name <Seoul Da09145>. In the beginning it was just a 12-page leaflet but later westarted using book size and binding to make it the magazine it is today. In thefirst few years we relied heavily on advertisement from close gallerists andartists. Several years later the circulation increased and even though many artperiodicals came and went we remained. Rather than delivering news we focus onproviding our readers with analytical text on the developments in the artscene, specials, reports from foreign correspondents from seven regionsincluding the Middle East, book reviews, recommended readings, monthly artstories etc. My prologue which started as half a page is now a full page and Ihave interviewed more than 95 art professionals. We have 350 issues and startinga few years ago we also publish an annual survey on the changes in theexhibition spaces. When I receive invitation for a press conference, I recordthe atmosphere of the event atDaljin.com>Community>Institute’s Blog.
Ⅴ. Later Life
Oneof my first nicknames was “Friday man” because every Friday I used to go aroundInsa-dong and Sagan-dong to pick up art materials. Gallerists would always askme “what do you collect all these for” and although they couldn't understand methey supported my enterprise. The friends I made in those times still supportmy mission today. Now things have changed and I do not have to take thematerials personally, they send them to me themselves. When someone requeststhat we review their book in our magazine they send us the book free of charge.All that makes me feel even more responsibility. I used to collect and analysematerials for their value as art resources but now I think our collection hasalso a social value that I want to show to the public. In our work we have toconsider many limitations. First of them is the lack of space to house ourarchive and the insufficient funding. Second, the diversification of mediumscoming with digitalisation poses the fundamental question of how we define theterm “art periodicals”. Third is the need to train the professionals of thenext generation. There is nothing easy but I believe with the support of thepeople who have helped us so far we will be able to accomplish our goals onestep at a time.
“Youhave achieved a lot, you will achieve even more”. These words were written inour guestbook by Kim Young-Na professor at SeoulNational University’s Antique ArtHistory Department (currently director of National Museum of Korea) in November 2011. We continue to curateexhibitions with materials from our archive and to publish books. We plan tocatalogue the most important documents and make them accessible online. In theera of internet making documents easy to search through your smartphone is notas easy as it sounds and it requires a considerable investment. The Korean artworld faces several problems such as the question of its identity and renewal,forgery scandals, advancement abroad, etc. The clue to addressing these issuesI think lies with the sentence written on a small exhibition brochure in mybag: “Today’s accurate record is tomorrow’s accurate history”. There is stillso much work to be done.
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