The Sehwa Museum of Art (Taekwang Group) is holding solo exhibitions by the three artists Park HwaYoung, Cheol-Woong Sim, and RYU Biho from September 24 until December 29, 2019, as part of its Sehwa Media Art Project. This project originated with the rediscovery of the archive from the Ilju Art House, run with the Ilju Academy and Culture Foundation’s support in the early 2000s prior to the Sehwa Museum of Art’s opening.

Twenty years ago, a sophisticated new building took up residence at the Gwanghwamun intersection in central Seoul—the Heungkuk Life Insurance building, the current home of the Sehwa Museum of Art. Soon, freely dressed young artists began to appear amidst the suit-clad office workers. Around the clock, they made their way to the media gallery and archive in the building’s lobby and the production studio on the second basement level. Eventually, members of the public, too, with interest in video media and art films, joined the artists.

With a vision to advance the Korean and overseas video culture in the 21st century, the foundation began providing full-scale support for the Ilju Art House. They operated various platforms, including gallery, archive, studio, focused on discovering emerging artists in the media field. Through the archive, young artists looking to incorporate new media into their creative activities gained access to experimental films and video materials that were difficult to find elsewhere in Korea. In the underground studio, they learned to handle related equipment. Through the media gallery, they began making themselves known within the art world as media artists as they shared the works they produced.

Now the Sehwa Museum of Art hopes to draw newfound attention to this briefly forgotten period, carrying on the legacy of the foundation’s media support program that was discontinued in 2006. As part of this, it is inviting back three artists who staged solo exhibitions in the media gallery at the time—Park Hwa Young, Cheol-Woong Sim, and RYU Biho—for a new set of solo exhibitions. Amid the search for links to the past, it was a welcome discovery to find VHS videos of the old artwork, bearing all the marks of the passage of time. As delightful a memory as this was, no one can remain bound in that time forever. Once-youthful artists are now fairly called “veterans”; their artistic visions have transformed with the trends of the times. All of this began in the early ’00s, but the individual solo exhibitions that are taking place aim to focus on the artists’ stories here and now in 2019. As we announce the beginning of this project, we look forward not simply to rediscovering the past, but also to carrying it forward with support for another group of young artists who are just starting out.