Two men enter the museum to see the photographs taken by Ryan McGinley, an American photographer known for his unique depiction of liberation and hedonism by taking naked pictures. One man frowns his face out of disgust due to the candid nudity; however, another seems very placid, gazing at the displayed work with a gentle smile. The mindset and reaction of the latter person go parallel with those of the members of Art Critique, the Korea University (KU) club that focuses on freely evaluating all art pieces under subjective criterion.

Established in 1991, Art Critique is a time-honored club in KU where people from diverse departments and backgrounds participate in weekly discussions. Art is one of the inseparable elements of human lives, since people are constantly exposed to it. As stated in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, self-actualization is the most sophisticated and unattainable state for people, as it requires lots of time and effort. To take a step closer to such a stage, members of Art Critique meet twice a week to discuss their thoughts and insights toward different artworks, ranging from music to novels.

▲ A poster that summarizes the past activities of Art Critique Photographed by Park Jiwon

Unlike other critique clubs in KU that concentrate on specific topics, this club is exceptional for not setting any restrictions on issues to be discussed. They not only discuss about philosophical ideologies behind each artwork, but also consult about the structure, impacts and functions of the matters. “Our goal is to create a liberal environment in which all members can actively participate in the seminar and share creative and judicious ideas. We believe there is no right or wrong answer in assessing,” said Yu Hyemi (’11, Sociology), the current resident of Art Critique.

This club is very systematic and distinctive as they deal with completely different issues on the Tuesday and Thursday seminars. On Tuesday’s meeting, they focus on learning theories such as Marxism and Utilitarianism to help the members further appreciate the art in depth. “I believe having profound knowledge about different terms and ideologies relevant to art itself is very constructive when it comes to expediting the apprehension of masterpieces’ true intention,” said president Yu.

On Thursday’s seminar, they take a totally different route and discuss about work that centers on the topic of fantasy. The purpose of this session is to hone the creativity of the members and produce multifaceted and fruitful perspectives to broaden people’s viewpoints. Generally, the discussion goes on for approximately three hours, but it can extend up to five or more hours if the debate gets overheated.

Currently, there are 23 active members from variegated departments in this club who eagerly partake in the Tuesday and Thursday discussion session. Although it is not mandatory for all members to come on both days, most members voluntarily devote their time and effort to have discussions twice a week. This is because they have strong and genuine passion toward art itself. Therefore, every assembly is valuable and fruitful as members give out constructive yet shrewd comments regarding each other’s perspectives and topic of the day.

The fact that this club does not have any advising professor strengthens the individuality and objective of the club. Since there are no experts to help them out when they are faced with difficulty in construing some artworks, members must search out the answer themselves using different sources such as the internet and written texts. Through this collaborative procedure, members achieve to broaden their views and thoughts and hone their creativity.

Critiquing to the Bone

One feature original to this club is that it does not lose its color even when going to the retreat, which is what is commonly known as drinking training in the eyes of other clubs. That is, even though this club also consumes alcohol to get to know each other better, they play a somewhat interesting and thought-provoking game related to their characteristics. Every time they go to the retreat to promote friendship, the president asks members to prepare memorable and catchy phrases from a literature piece of their interest.

After gathering all the phrases, the president prints and laminates all the phrases and brings them to the retreat to play a special game. The rule of the game is simple: just like word scramble, people shuffle the phrases so that no one can identify which one is selected by whom. The main purpose of this game is to match the phrases with the members who prepared them. Although there is no punishment when one gets the answer wrong, this opportunity allows members to get to know each other better.

▲ President Yu Hyemi (’11, Sociology) passionately explaining about the textbook for Thursday’s seminar. Photographed by Park Jiwon

According to president Yu, art critique is an intrinsic yearning of human beings. That is, people always desire to explore the true meaning of beauty in both the internal and external sense. In the case of external beauty, the exponentially increasing popularity of having plastic surgery is the epitome of the indication that more and more people are looking for outer beauty. However, in case of internal beauty, we cannot explicitly detect people’s effort, as it is abstract and unseen by people’s naked eyes. “Art critique satisfies men’s craving for internal beauty, which is oftentimes associated with primitive nature,” says Yu.

As a big project for this semester, Yu is planning to have an open seminar to invite people from outside the club, who are interested in art critique, to talk about the essence of arts. In 2012’s open seminar, Peculiar things in Wonderland, students freely conversed about fantasy. To continue the tradition, Yu will definitely make the 2014 open seminar happen, albeit the topic is not yet determined.

▲ President Yu Hyemi (’11, Sociology) passionately explaining about the textbook for Thursday’s seminar. Photographed by Park Jiwon

This club is open to anyone who has passion and dedication toward art critique, regardless of their age or department. One must not hesitate to apply for this club just because they do not have relevant knowledge about art critique. New members will naturally assimilate into the population as time passes and as they attend more meetings. “We do not seek anyone highly intelligent and special. All we need is committed people with a good attitude.”