Representing the Republic of Korea in Europe: The Sarangbang display in Copenhagen and London

Abstract

Taking two examples, Sarangbang displays in the National Museum of Denmark (1966) and the British Museum (2000), my research traces the construction and circulation of meaning within permanent Korean art and culture exhibition galleries, as conceptualized by the government of the Republic of Korea (South Korea). By analyzing the visual and textual discourse of displays that reconstruct the sarangbang (scholars' study) of the late Chosŏn period, primarily the 18th and 19th centuries, I seek to explore the communication dynamics employed to deliver knowledge about Korean art to European visitors, to integrate such knowledge within the Euro-centric universal knowledge production system, and to subvert (or to reinforce) the global hierarchies of values applied to non-European and traditional arts.