Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s–1970s

The 1960s and 1970s marked a period of exceptional change in Korea, propelled by rapid urbanization and modernization, and influenced by an authoritarian state at home and a globalizing world beyond. Young artists of the era were not immune to these unprecedented socioeconomic, political and material conditions, responding with a groundbreaking and genre-defying body of avant-garde art known broadly as Experimental art (silheom misul). Both as individuals and in collectives, these artists broke definitively with their predecessors, redefining the boundaries of traditional painting and sculpture while embracing innovative—and often provocative—approaches to materials and process through performance, installation, photography and video. Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s–1970s accompanies the first exhibition in North America to examine this influential but understudied period. Featuring incisive new scholarship and lavish photography of works drawn from public and private collections across the