Directory

Dr. Mina Kim’s research focuses on Korean art and visual culture, modern and contemporary art, visual communication, popular culture, media, film, and design in Korea and East Asia, and East Asian/global visual and material culture.

Dr. Kim is completing her book project, Contemporary Korean Art: New Directions since the 1960s, which was accepted by Reaktion Books (London; distributed by the University of Chicago Press: Chicago) with an advanced contract. It will be published in the spring of 2024. Kim’s book deals with a range of Korean art involved in artistic creation, including experiment, performance, gender, identity, religion, and multimedia from the mid-twentieth century to the early twenty-first century. It shows how Korean artists continuously communicate with people and transmit the value of Korean art in today’s world.

Dr. Kim is currently working on another book project, No Boundaries in Boundaries: Identity, Diversity, and Communication in Korean American Art. Dr. Kim is also the author of Jung Yeondoo’s Media Art: Quantum Deformation through Coincidence of the Real and the Virtual. Kim’s article, “Visualizing Buddhism Today: The Works of Jeong Hwa Choi, Kimsooja, and Do Ho Suh” will be published in Religion and the Arts in December 2023. Dr. Kim published her articles, “Reinscribing Tradition in Twentieth-century China: A Biographical Sketch of Pan Tianshou (1897-1971)” in Asian Culture and “Debating Wang Meng’s (1308-1385) Undated Handscroll: The Continuous Dialogue between Images and Texts in China” in Misulsahak yŏn’gu (Korean Journal of Art History). She has also published three articles related to the Chinese artist, Pan Tianshou (1897-1971), in Orientations, Journal of Museum Studies, and American Journal of Chinese Studies.

Selected Publications

• Korean Contemporary Art: New Directions since the 1960s. (under contract, London: Reaktion Books; Chicago: Distributed by the University of Chicago Press, forthcoming in spring 2024)
• “Visualizing Buddhism Today: The Works of Jeong Hwa Choi, Kimsooja, and Do Ho Suh,” (forthcoming in Religion and the Arts)
• “Reinscribing Tradition in Twentieth-century China: A Biographical Sketch of Pan Tianshou (1897-1971).” Asian Culture 44 (December 2020): 25-45. (refereed)
• “Debating Wang Meng’s (1308-1385) Undated Handscroll: The Continuous Dialogue between Images and Texts in China.” Misulsahak yŏn’gu (Korean Journal of Art History) 305 (March 2020): 149-170. (refereed)
• Jung Yeondoo’s Media Art: Quantum Deformation through Coincidence of the Real and the Virtual. Seoul: Arts Council Korea Arko Art Center, 2018.
• “Across Time and Space: Historical Influence on Pan Tianshou (1897-1971),” Orientations 48, no. 4 (2017): 42-47.
• “Beyond Representation: Reinscribing Museum’s Collection of Chinese Painting in the Contested History: A Case Study of Pan Tianshou Memorial Museum,” Bakmulgwan hakbo (Journal of Museum Studies) 32 (June 2017): 105-128. (refereed)
• “The Embodiment of Time and Space: Political Expression of Pan Tianshou,” American Journal of Chinese Studies 24, no. 2 (October 2017): 141-152. (refereed)

Selected Presentations

• “Visualizing Buddhism in Contemporary Korean Art: The Works of Jeong Hwa Choi, Kimsooja, and Do Ho Suh.” 112th CAA (College Art Association of America) Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, and online, February 2024. (scheduled)
• “Early Korean American Art: Identity, Discourse and Hybridity.” 52nd Annual SWCAS (Southwest Conference on Asian Studies) Conference, online, November 2023. (scheduled)
• “Engagement and Recreation: Memory and Documentation in Korean Contemporary Art.” The AAS-in-Asia 2023 Conference, Daegu, Korea, June 2023.
• “The Challenge of Authoritarian Government and the Urging of Popular Culture through the Medium of Art: A Study of Two Art Groups in the 1960s and 1970s.” Theorizing Global Authoritarianism: To Reclaim Critical Theory Against the Grain, Seoul, Korea, June 2023.
• “A Case Study of Changes and Expansion in Artistry through Residency Programs in Korean Contemporary Art.” The 9th Art History Symposium, Seoul, Korea, June 2023.
• Contemporaneity and Popularity in Today’s Korean Art.” International Symposium on Korean Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, November 2022.
• “Empathy and Connection: Visualizing Democratic Uprising, Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), and Inter-Korean Relations.” 110th CAA (College Art Association of America) Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, and online, March 2022
• “Reinterpreting Tradition in Modern and Contemporary Chinese and Korean Ink Painting.” International Academic Conference, Seoul National University, South Korea, December 2021.
• “Female Identity and Glocalization in Korea.” 50th Annual SWCAS (Southwest Conference on Asian Studies) Conference, online, October 2021.
• “Empathy and Connection: Visualizing Military Dictatorship, Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), and Inter-Korean Relations.” 2021 ECR Conference (Early Career Researchers and Graduate Students Conference), Edinburgh, UK, and online, September 2021.
• “Female Identity and Glocalization in Korea.” The 12th ICAS (International Convention of Asia Scholars), Kyoto, Japan, August 2021.
• “Empathy and Connection: Visualization of Traumatic War and Inter-Korean Relations.” AAS (The Association for Asian Studies) Annual Conference, Seattle, WA, March 2021.
• “Quantum Deformation of Reality: A New Perspective and Visualization of Traumatic Disasters in Contemporary Art.” The AAS-in-Asia 2020 Conference, Kobe, Japan, September 2020.
• “Debating Wang Meng’s (1308-1385) Undated Handscroll: The Continuous Dialogue between Images and Texts in China.” Art History Association of Korea Conference, Seoul, South Korea, June 2020.
• “Korean Artist, Jung Yeondoo: The Coexistence of Reality and Fantasy,” CAA (College Art Association of America) Annual Conference, Chicago, Ill., February 2020.
• “Creativity in Contemporary Art: Jung Yeondoo’s Quantum Deformation of Reality,” The AAS-in-Asia 2019 Conference, Bangkok, Thailand, July 2019.
• “Experimental Art in the 1960s and 1970s Korea,” AAS (The Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference), Denver, Colo., March 2019.
• “The Concealed Essence of the Phenomenon: Korean Experimental Art for Today,” MACAA (Mid-America College Art Association), Lincoln, Neb., October 2018.
• “Beyond Representation: Reinscribing Museum’s Collection of Chinese Painting in the Contested History,” International Council of Museums, South Korea, May 2017.
• “Past and Present: Exchange, Negotiation and Transformation in East Asia,” The Korean National University of Cultural Heritage, South Korea, May 2017.
• “Intersection of Religion with Modern Chinese Ink Painting,” University of Nebraska-Omaha, NE, April 2017
• “Cultural Nationalism and Modernity: Rediscovering Pan Tianshou in Twentieth-Century China,” University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Neb., April 2016.
• “Epitomizing Hybrid Subjectivity and Sociocultural Environment: Letter by Li Zhi of Bada Shanren (1626-1705),” The Mellon Chinese Object Study Conference at Smithsonian Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington D.C., November 2014.

Recent Grants and Awards

• 2023 KAMS (The Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Korean Arts Management Service) Publishing Korean Art: Overseas Publication Support Program, Seoul, South Korea, 2023
• The New Foundation for Art History Publication Subvention Grants, New York, 2023
• Arts & Sciences Program for Intensive Research (ASPIRE) Award, The University of Alabama, 2022
• Certificate of Recognition for Contributions to Students Awards, UNL Parents Association, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2019
• Marilyn A. Papp Graduate Scholarship, Marilyn A. Papp Graduate Scholarship Trust, L. Roy Papp & Associates, Phoenix, Ariz., 2014-2016
• ASC Awards, The Ohio State University, Columbus, 2014-2015