Pink Island,

Jeju-Berlin: The Jeju 4.3 Seminar 

Pink Island, Jeju-Berlin: The Jeju 4.3 Seminar is an artistic and sociopolitical inquiry into Korea’s hidden tragedy of the Jeju Uprising that began before the Korean War and was suppressed for more than a generation. We will listen to stories about survivors, meet curators and artists from Jeju Island who approach the tragedy in their artworks, and discuss the impact it has on politics and the world of art today.


Shortly following Korea’s independence, many citizens of Jeju opposed the government and elections held separately by the South following frivolous division of the nation. Labeled “Reds” in Korean, measures against these citizens of Jeju are hard to describe. One Korean Military order included methodical categorization of people into groups A, B, C & D, and then summary execution of all Cs and Ds for their perceived threat as Communists. An estimated 15,000 to 30,000 people lost their lives, and hundreds of villages were destroyed. Survivors and the terror they experienced emerged significantly in the 1990s and a formal investigation was opened in 2000, revealing long-hidden details of the unimaginable tragedy. Known as “The April 3rd Incident” in Korea, South Korean President Moon Jae-In recently gave a speech at the 70th anniversary of the massacre:


“At a time when any act of recalling the Jeju April 3 Incident was considered taboo and bringing it up itself was regarded as seditious, there were some artists who tried to keep the memory alive by engraving the pain of April 3 in their works…[Their efforts] have helped us understand that the Jeju April 3 Incident is not simply an unfortunate tragedy of the past but also a story of our own era.”

– President Moon Jae-In, April 3rd, 2018

This program is part of the joint Pink Island International Artistic Research Residence Program presented by Culture Space Yang on Jeju Island, and NON Berlin Asia Contemporary Art Platform in Berlin.


Graphic design by Young Hong

SCHEDULE

Thursday, August 16th: Moderator – Julian Ott

13:00 : Greeting, Introduction

13:15 : Presentation – KEIN ORT SONDERN EIN ZUSTAND

13:30 : Presentation – Sarie Nijboer

13:45: Presentation – Sonia Voss

14:00: Presentation – Susanne Prinz

14:15: Presentation – Vincent Chomaz

14:30: Curator / Artist Q&A

14:45: Break

15:00: Speaker – Moonho Cho (presented by Julian Ott)

15:20: Speaker – Suyoung Hwang

15:40: Q&A

16:00: Free discussion

16:30: Closing

Friday, August 17th: Moderator – Chan Sook Choi

14:00: Greeting

14:10: Keynote presentation – Beom Jin Kim: The Relevance of the Jeju Uprising Today

14:30: Presentation – Yeonjoo Kim: An Introduction to the Art of the Jeju Uprising

14:50: Break

15:00: Presentation – Soonwang Kwon: Artist’s Work Related to the Jeju Uprising

15:10: Presentation – Danwoo Park: Artist’s Work Related to the Jeju Uprising

15:20: Presentation – Soyeon Shin: Artist’s Work Related to the Jeju Uprising

16:30: Presentation – Hyeonyeong Jeong: Artist’s Work Related to the Jeju Uprising

16:40: Presentation and Performance – Miseong Eem & Seongwoo Heo:

A Meeting of Poetry and Music inspired by the Jeju Uprising

17:00 : Free discussion

18:00 : Farewell