When Documentation Becomes the Work: Photographs, Reperformance, and the Archival Lives of Korean Experimental Art

Dorian Vale’s Museum of One working paper compares three documentary histories in Korean experimental art. It follows how photographs acquire a public role through copying, repair, printing, exhibition, collection and reperformance. Seoul Museum of Art records describe Rim Dong Sik’s (임동식) interventions in photographic records. MMCA holds a 2000 print of Kim Kulim’s (김구림) 1970 From Phenomenon to Traces and documents a reperformance in 2016. Sung Neung Kyung’s (성능경) Reading Newspaper circulated photographically in 1976, and MMCA acquired the twelve-print object in 2017. Institutional accounts connect the images with the Event Logical brochure and suggest that its photographs preceded the July event. The comparison distinguishes material continuity, exhibition history and institutional identification. Scope and limits. The paper attributes copying and repair to SeMA’s descriptions. Sung’s individual exposures, print manufacture and mounting history remain unresolved. Kim’s source negative, print edition, authorization, acquisition date and the 2000 print’s role in planning the 2016 reperformance remain open. Three Korean journal articles are discussed at abstract level only. The full manuscript includes 39 references. Relationship to Relational Archival Investigation (RAI). The main paper (10.5281/zenodo.24088563) and two technical supplements (10.5281/zenodo.24088574 and 10.5281/zenodo.24088573) drew on an earlier draft for Rim’s photographic repair and Sung’s early photographic exhibition. This study develops the comparison through Kim’s print and reperformance, additional evidence on Sung’s brochure images, and scholarship on Korean photography and conservation. 한국미술사 · 한국 실험미술. 임동식, 김구림, 성능경의 사례를 통해 사진의 복제, 보수, 인화, 전시, 수집, 재연이 작품의 공개적 형태를 어떻게 구성하는지 살핀다. 소장품의 물질적 연속성, 전시 이력, 기관의 작품 식별에는 서로 다른 근거가 필요하다. 논문 본문은 영어로 제공된다.

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Publication Details

Journal
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Published
2026-11-09
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.24093529
Primary Topic
Photographic and Visual Arts
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

When Documentation Becomes the Work: Photographs, Reperformance, and the Archival Lives of Korean Experimental Art

Dorian Vale
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Photographic and Visual Arts
article

When Documentation Becomes the Work: Photographs, Reperformance, and the Archival Lives of Korean Experimental Art

Dorian Vale
article en

Abstract

Dorian Vale’s Museum of One working paper compares three documentary histories in Korean experimental art. It follows how photographs acquire a public role through copying, repair, printing, exhibition, collection and reperformance. Seoul Museum of Art records describe Rim Dong Sik’s (임동식) interventions in photographic records. MMCA holds a 2000 print of Kim Kulim’s (김구림) 1970 From Phenomenon to Traces and documents a reperformance in 2016. Sung Neung Kyung’s (성능경) Reading Newspaper circulated photographically in 1976, and MMCA acquired the twelve-print object in 2017. Institutional accounts connect the images with the Event Logical brochure and suggest that its photographs preceded the July event. The comparison distinguishes material continuity, exhibition history and institutional identification. Scope and limits. The paper attributes copying and repair to SeMA’s descriptions. Sung’s individual exposures, print manufacture and mounting history remain unresolved. Kim’s source negative, print edition, authorization, acquisition date and the 2000 print’s role in planning the 2016 reperformance remain open. Three Korean journal articles are discussed at abstract level only. The full manuscript includes 39 references. Relationship to Relational Archival Investigation (RAI). The main paper (10.5281/zenodo.24088563) and two technical supplements (10.5281/zenodo.24088574 and 10.5281/zenodo.24088573) drew on an earlier draft for Rim’s photographic repair and Sung’s early photographic exhibition. This study develops the comparison through Kim’s print and reperformance, additional evidence on Sung’s brochure images, and scholarship on Korean photography and conservation. 한국미술사 · 한국 실험미술. 임동식, 김구림, 성능경의 사례를 통해 사진의 복제, 보수, 인화, 전시, 수집, 재연이 작품의 공개적 형태를 어떻게 구성하는지 살핀다. 소장품의 물질적 연속성, 전시 이력, 기관의 작품 식별에는 서로 다른 근거가 필요하다. 논문 본문은 영어로 제공된다.

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Photographic and Visual Arts
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