2023 SeMA-HANA Art Criticism Award Recipient Hangil Jang. Image provided by the Seoul Museum of Art.
The Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) has selected emerging art critic Hangil Jang (b. 1988) to receive the 2023 SeMA-Hana Art Criticism Award, sponsored by Hana Financial Group. This award, the first biennial art critique award presented by a public art museum, was established to promote contemporary Korean art criticism and marks the event’s fifth edition.
Jang, active in both Seoul and Berlin, was chosen as the winner through a blind selection process of 28 submissions for his review of the documentary film titled ‘부재를 스크리닝 하기:임철민의 야광(Screening Absence: Glow Job by Cheol-Min Im).’
Recipient Jang is an art and cultural researcher and translator. He explores the possibilities of contemporary media, with a particular focus on sound art, voice, and orality. According to the museum, “his work connects concepts like ‘experience of the non-experiential generation’ and ‘post-memory’ through the keyword ‘absence,’ presenting an experimental and non-linear critique of the cruising experience in theatrical settings.”
The award ceremony was held on December 15 at SeMA’s main building in Seosomun, where Jang received a prize of KRW 20 million and a trophy. Support for the SeMA Art Criticism Research Project will also be provided for the next two years.
