Religiosity, Spirituality, Material Culture in Korea: Devotional Objects and Contemporary Variations

Description

Religiosity, Spirituality, Material Culture in Korea: Devotional Objects and Contemporary Variations

A two-day research symposium on December 7 at 1:45 pm and December 8 at 9:45 am

38 West 86th Street, Lecture Hall

public.humanities@bgc.bard.edu

$15 General | $12 Seniors | Free for people with a college or museum ID, people with disabilities and caregivers, and BGC members

 

Religiosity and spirituality may be intangible in concept and principle, but these ideas are manifest in materiality. This two-day symposium expands the scope of Korean art history to objects outside the traditional category of “fine art” and moves beyond aesthetic analysis to consider sensorial engagement, ritual function, the transformative reception of materiality, techniques of production, and histories of consumption. Participants will discuss both institutionalized and unorthodox objects and practices from Buddhism, Daoism, Shamanism, and Christianity over a wide chronological range of themes from ancient worship objects to fandom in contemporary popular culture.

 

Co-organized by Heeryoon Shin (Bard College) and Kyunghee Pyun (Fashion Institute of Technology).

This symposium was supported by the 2023 Korean Studies Grant Program of the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS-2023-C-029).
 

DAY 1: Thursday, Dec 7

Welcome (1:45—2 pm) 

Session 1. Intangible Materiality and Tangible Spirituality (2—3:30 pm)

• Gods, Shamans, and Things: Shamanic Materiality in the Ontology and Practice of Korean Mansin Laurel Kendall, American Museum of Natural History
• Visions and Stones: Numinosity and the Virtual in Korean Shamanic Rock Divination David Kim, SUNY Purchase
• Specters of Comfort Women Jungah Kim-Kiteishvili, CUNY BMCC

COFFEE BREAK (30 mins) 

Session 2. Porous Borders (4—5:30 pm)  

• Kyŏngch’ŏn Pagoda and Architectural Forms in the Yuan Empire’s Contact Zones Yong Cho, University of California, Riverside
• The Omnipresence of the Immaculate Mary: The Pictorial Reception of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal and Our Lady of Lourdes in the Korean Catholic Church Yuna Han, Seoul National University
• Transforming Buddhist Culture as ‘Art’ or ‘Cultural Assets’ Heejung Kang, Sogang University

KEYNOTE (6—7 pm)

• Images and Materiality in Korean Buddhism Juhyung Rhi, Seoul National University

 

DAY 2: Friday, Dec 8

Welcome (9:45—10 am)

Session 3. The Consumption and Waste of Devotion (10—11:30 am) 

• Neon Crosses of Korean Churches: Marketing and Religiosity in Contemporary Design Kyunghee Pyun, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York 
• Ritual Rice and the Hungry Nation: Shamanic Excess during the Great Depression Merose Hwang, Hiram College
• Pseudo-religious Consumption of Gifts and Merchandise in K-Pop Fandom Marc De Jong, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York

COFFEE BREAK (30 mins) 

Session 4. Modern Remakings of the Vernacular (12—1:30 pm) 

• Modern Graphic Identity in the Material Culture of Nation-State Soohyun Mok, Seoul National University
• Modernist Exorcism: Redesigning the Folkloric Motifs for the 1988 Summer Olympics Seungyeon Gabrielle Jung, University of California, Irvine
• Conceptually Material Condition of Korean Experimental Art Jung-Ah Woo, POSTECH

Closing Remarks (1:30-2 pm)  Yunah Lee, University of Brighton

Date & Time

Dec 7 - 8, 2023

Venue Details

Bard Graduate Center

38 West 86th Street
New York, New York 10024

Bard Graduate Center