Meekyoung Shin : Translation

Kukje Gallery, 2009. Hardcover. New. New cloth and case wrapped hardcover. 4to. (11.5 x 1.2 x 10 inches) Clean text free of marks or underlining. Art exhibition catalogue from Kukje Gallery. Meekyoung Shin introduces her concept of art and culture translation. Gorgeous full page color photos on heavy paper throughout the book. Includes an introduction, Korean texts, list of works an a chronology. 267 pp.

Fast shipping in a secure book box mailer with tracking. Meekyoung Shin's ongoing project Translation is about the process of transference and re-coding of shapes and iconography across cultures through time and space. Her work a ddresses the ways in which forms, decorative motifs and religious iconography are transformed by exchanges between cultures. Shin's soap versions of ancient classical sculptu res and oriental vases relate to their 'translation' between East and West- how this inter-cultural transport affects the way they are understood and aesthetically appreciated. Tra nslation is not only a linguistic activity but refers to processes by which cultural expression moving across national and cultural boundaries raises questions related to translatabi lity, comprehension and loss of meanings. As in linguistic translation, some cultural knowledge is necessary to fully understand objects transported from one continent to anoth er. Shin's Translation project proposes the idea that a vase or a statue can actually become a 'different' object when removed from its original setting and transported to a new su rrounding. Through an act of displacement Museums re-contextualize artifacts that may have previously had a utilitarian or religious function to become 'non-useful' cultural objects of historical or aesthetic significance for posterity.