Video of my lecture "Experimental Artists Confront Conformity in Seoul, 1968-70"

On January 16, 2024, I gave a lecture for the Royal Asiatic Society titled “'We feel like we’re suffocating’: Experimental Artists Confront Conformity in Seoul, 1968-70,” which was previewed in an article I wrote for the Korea Times, "Experimental artists challenge 'suffocating' conformity in 1960s Seoul." Below is a video of the lecture.

I was pressed for time when preparing the lecture and only managed to watch the beginning of this (subtitled) interview with Kim Kulim. When I finished it after the lecture, I wished I'd been able to include a few revelations from it: Kim noted that the weekly magazine Sunday Seoul realized they sold more copies when the Fourth Group was covered, so they offered to fund their activities in exchange for access. This is where the body painting images and 'naked bodies entwined' photo shoot came from (visible below). Also, when Kim and the others were arrested on August 15, 1970, during their 'funeral march' in central Seoul, he was interrogated and asked how much North Korea had paid him to do it. He expected the worst, but found out later the editor of Sunday Seoul had contacted the police, and so the police, not wanting media exposure, let them off with warnings.