Asian ties treat the eyes

The ASEAN-Korea Centre is holding a nationwide traveling exhibition that presents stunning natural scenery, different societies and their cultures reinterpreted by artists.

Titled “Cross-Scape,” the center’s third Contemporary Media Art Exhibition, features 27 renowned contemporary artists from ten Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states and Korea showcasing 105 unique artworks.

“Relations have reached another milestone with the elevation of its relations to a strategic partnership during the 13th ASEAN-Korea Summit held in Hanoi, Vietnam in October 2010,” said the center’s Secretary General Cho Young-jai.

Every picture on display offers the viewer diverse aspects of ASEAN’s cultural and natural heritage.

On the Korean front, local photographers visited ASEAN member states to reinterpret contemporary Southeast Asia using a different perspective.

The exhibition in Seoul runs at the Kumho Museum until Oct. 8 before moving to the Jeonbuk Museum of Art in Jeonju from Oct. 28 to Nov. 27.

The Contemporary Media Art Exhibition continues in Busan at the Goeun Museum of Photography from Dec. 17 until Feb. 26, 2012.

Curator Shin Hye-kyung explained that Southeast Asian fine art has drawn attention from the international art society since the early 2000s.

“Currently, it is becoming more diversified as the center of Asian art is moving from China, India and now to Southeast Asia,” Shin said.

Cross-Scape displays new artworks that capture Southeast Asian scenery from a variety of angles.

Shin explained that what separates Southeast Asian art from its neighbors in China and India is the usage of bold and vivid colors.

“Artists create and develop their own photographic style based on a variety of subjects, not limiting themselves under macroscopic discourse,” Shin said.

Cho explained that the center’s role is to highlight people-to-people exchanges with the aim of enhancing cultural exchanges as well as promoting public awareness of ASEAN-Korea relations both in Southeast Asia and Korea through various programs.

More information about the center can be had by visiting www.aseankorea.org.

By Yoav Cerralbo (yoav@heraldcorp.com)