Relational Archival Investigation: Identity, Chronology, and Historical Judgment in Korean Experimental Art

Published working paper · Version 1.0 · 9 November 2026 · 16 pages

By Dorian Vale · Museum of One · ORCID 0009-0004-7737-5094

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.24088563

Abstract

Relational Archival Investigation (RAI) is a source-critical method for determining what relationships among records can establish about the identity, chronology, explanation and historical consequences of artworks. This study compares seven consecutive acquisition entries in the 2016 Annual Report of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA), with their public collection descriptions. Two leading production-year assignments differ. Published artist testimony distinguishes production from presentation in one case, while the reason for the other difference remains open. Additional comparisons distinguish an early one-monitor presentation from a later twelve-monitor arrangement, a title’s accidental origin from its subsequent adoption, and a performance from the later repair of a photograph that records it. The study traces how accurately transcribed details can yield an unsupported historical claim when they are assigned to the same object or occasion. Post-Interpretive Criticism supplies a philosophical background. The findings rest on a bounded set of Korean experimental art cases and their documented sources.

Scope and limits

• The core comparison pairs seven consecutive MMCA acquisition entries with public collection records. It is a retrospectively selected, bounded comparison, not a representative audit of museum cataloguing.
• Lee Kang-so’s published account helps distinguish production from presentation. Park Suk-won’s production-year discrepancy remains unresolved. Further cases examine naming, performance photography and video installation.
• A difference between documents does not establish why it arose or what historical consequences followed. Findings remain open to contrary evidence.

Artists and works

Lee Kang-so (이강소；Lee Kangso, Lee Kang So); Park Suk-won (박석원；Park Suk Won); Sung Neung Kyung (성능경；Sung Neungkyung); Kim Youngjin (김영진); Kim Yong-Ik (김용익；Kim Yong Ik); Rim Dong Sik (임동식；Rim Dongsik). MMCA distinguishes Kim Youngjin in its collection catalogue with the label “KIM Youngjin b”; the letter is a catalogue disambiguator.

Works discussed: Painting–78–1 (페인팅-78-1); Jeok–Eungnyeok (적-응력); Untitled 75031 (무제 75031); Reading Newspaper (신문 읽기); 1978–2; Flat Object (평면 오브제); Tying Reeds and Beard (갈대와 수염 묶기).

한국어 연구 개요

한국 실험미술의 작품 식별과 연대, 전시 및 기록의 관계를 살핀 연구다. 국립현대미술관(MMCA)의 2016년 연보 소장품 수집 목록 73–79번과 소장품 기록 7922–7928을 대조한다. 두 사례에서 제작연도가 다르게 제시된다. 이강소의 공개된 대담은 〈페인팅-78-1〉의 제작과 발표를 구분하는 근거를 제공하며, 박석원의 〈적-응력〉 연대 차이는 미해결로 남는다. 성능경, 김영진, 김용익, 임동식의 사례에서는 작품명과 전시, 퍼포먼스, 사진 기록이 가리키는 서로 다른 사건을 살핀다.

주제어: 한국미술; 한국미술사; 한국 실험미술; 미술 아카이브; 이강소; 박석원; 성능경; 김영진; 김용익; 임동식.

Read the companion documents

• Documentary Evidence and Source Comparisons: Supplement 1 to Relational Archival Investigation · DOI
• Extended Case Studies and Methodological Demonstrations: Supplement 2 to Relational Archival Investigation · DOI

Explore the RAI methodology · Institutional & Archival Investigations · Research Programmes

Publication and access records

Zenodo · canonical DOI edition · KC Works · PDF and record · HAL · bibliographic notice

Research Catalogue · all three documents · Internet Archive · all three PDFs · OSF · files · RAI wiki

Academia.edu · publication record · PhilArchive · main paper and companion DOI links

Cite this document

Vale, Dorian. (2026). Relational Archival Investigation: Identity, Chronology, and Historical Judgment in Korean Experimental Art (Version 1.0). Museum of One. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.24088563

© 2026 Dorian Vale · Museum of One. In Copyright. The deposited edition and this web record retain their own publication and revision histories.

Publication record

• Series: Methodology
• Form: Working paper
• Status: Published
• Edition: Version 1.0
• Responsibility: Dorian Vale
• Read: Read PDF

Related research and repository file

Two working papers develop related questions of documentary evidence in Korean experimental art. When Documentation Becomes the Work examines photographs and reperformance. Titles, Dates, and Reconstructed Works examines artwork identity, naming and chronology.

Open this paper’s PDF record on OSF.