Relational Archival Investigation: Identity, Chronology, and Historical Judgment in Korean Experimental Art

This study in Korean art history examines how museum collections and art archives support claims about Korean experimental art. Relational Archival Investigation (RAI) compares seven consecutive acquisition entries from the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA), 2016 Annual Report with collection records 7922–7928. Two leading production-year assignments differ. Lee Kang-so’s published account distinguishes production from presentation for Painting–78–1. The discrepancy for Park Suk-won’s Jeok–Eungnyeok remains open. Further cases examine Sung Neung Kyung’s Reading Newspaper, Kim Youngjin’s 1978–2, Kim Yong-Ik’s Flat Object title history and Rim Dong Sik’s later repair of a performance photograph. The study separates what records identify from what they establish about a work’s production, naming, performance, exhibition and documentation. The seven-entry comparison is bounded and was selected retrospectively. Post-Interpretive Criticism provides the philosophical background.

한국어 초록
한국 실험미술의 작품 식별과 연대, 전시 및 기록의 관계를 살핀 연구다. 국립현대미술관(MMCA)의 2016년 연보 소장품 수집 목록 73–79번과 소장품 기록 7922–7928을 대조한다. 두 사례에서 제작연도가 다르게 제시된다. 이강소의 공개된 대담은 〈페인팅-78-1〉의 제작과 발표를 구분하는 근거를 제공하며, 박석원의 〈적-응력〉 연대 차이는 미해결로 남는다. 성능경, 김영진, 김용익, 임동식의 사례에서는 작품명과 전시, 퍼포먼스, 사진 기록이 가리키는 서로 다른 사건을 살핀다.

Artists in this study
Lee Kang-so (이강소; Lee Kangso, Lee Kang So) · Park Suk-won (박석원; Park Suk Won) · Sung Neung Kyung (성능경; Sung Neungkyung) · Kim Youngjin (김영진; KIM Youngjin b, 김영진 b) · Kim Yong-Ik (김용익; Kim Yong Ik) · Rim Dong Sik (임동식; Rim Dongsik)

Works discussed
Painting–78–1 (페인팅-78-1) · Jeok–Eungnyeok (적-응력) · Untitled 75031 (무제 75031) · Reading Newspaper (신문 읽기) · 1978–2 · Flat Object (평면 오브제) · Tying Reeds and Beard (갈대와 수염 묶기)

Dorian Vale, Museum of One, 2026. ORCID 0009-0004-7737-5094. Version 1.0. © 2026 Dorian Vale · Museum of One.

Author and publisher authority records
Dorian Vale | ORCID 0009-0004-7737-5094 | Wikidata Q136308916 | ISNI 0000000528819744 (publisher-attested)
Museum of One | Wikidata Q136308879 | ISNI 0000000528819728 (publisher-attested)

Related Museum of One and Post-Interpretive Criticism research vocabulary
Post-Interpretive Criticism; Stillmark Theory; Message-Transfer Theory; MTT; Misplacement; Displacement; Aesthetic Displacement Theory; Theory of Misplacement; Absential Aesthetics; Witness Aesthetics; Adab for Art; Hauntmark Theory; Spiritual Criticism; Presence-Based Criticism; Custodianship of Art; Art as Ontology; Aesthetic Recursion Theory; Aesthetic Recursion; Viewer as Evidence Theory; Restraint in front of art; Moral proximity; Interpretive silence; Erasure as ethics; Temporal scarcity; Silence as method; Ontology of beauty; Aesthetic mercy; Language as violence; Art encounter ethics; Epistemology of witness; Philosophy of Art; Aesthetics; Art Theory; Contemporary Aesthetics; Comparative Aesthetics; Phenomenology and Art; Ethics in Art Criticism; Interpretation and Meaning; Criticism and Reception Theory; Epistemology of Art; Visual Culture Studies; Dorian Vale; Founder of Post-Interpretive Criticism; Post-Aesthetic Critic; Independent Philosopher of Art; Museum of One; Art Writer and Theorist; Aesthetic Philosopher; Custodian of Witness Aesthetics; Spiritual Aesthetics Movement; The Doctrine of Post-Interpretive Criticism; The Custodian’s Oath; The Canon of Witnesses; Art as Truth; Art as Presence; The Viewer as Evidence; Interpretation vs. Witnessing; Language as Custody; Erasure as Afterlife; Museum of One Manifesto; Alternative art criticism; New art criticism movement; Ethical art theory; Criticism beyond interpretation; Slow looking philosophy; Contemporary sacred aesthetics; Quiet philosophy of art; Radical art restraint; Witness over interpretation; Interpretive Restraint