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Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

 
Venue: 
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Room 8 & 9
Event date: 
Friday, 24 October, 2025 - 17:00

 

From Classical Paintings to A.I.: Tradition and Future in Korean Art and Technology

 

Venue: Room 8/9, FAMES

Time: 24 Oct 2025 (Fri), 5 PM - 6:30 PM

Speakers: Soh-Yeong Roh, Inkeon Chun

Pre-registration is required. Please book your place here: https://app.tickettailor.com/events/universityofcambridge16/1903825

 

This event brings together two prominent figures of the Korean art and museum scene to offer insight into the past and future of Korean art and technology.

 

Presentation 1: “The Recreation of Korean Style: Characteristics of Korean Aesthetics” by Inkeon Chun

 

Traditional Korean aesthetics emerged as Koreans engaged in cultural exchanges with outside influences and then recreated those influences through a distinct style. One of the most notable periods in which these dynamics appeared is the “true View” (Jin-gyeong) period of eighteenth‑century Joseon which is often described as the second golden age of the dynasty. The “true‑view” aesthetic of the period was expressed through a variety of forms including poems and novels, as well as “true‑view” landscape and genre paintings. These sought to reflect Neo-Confucian philosophy while reinterpreting technical influences from Chinese and Western art in a Korean way. The result was a distinctive expression and combination of techniques—one of many recurring phenomena in two thousand years of Korean art history. This talk will discuss the unique aesthetics that Korean literati painters produced and the process by which their works were created.

 

Presentation 2: “Beyond Intelligence: What do we value?” by Soh-Yeong Roh

 

In the age of A.I., we often view intelligence as the ultimate solution to any problems we face. Yet, if anything, the world is becoming more and more divided, unequal, and self-destructive. Intelligence is thus not an ultimate good but an instrument that reveals severe limitations. As such, it requires guidance from another faculty. This talk focuses on the limitations of A.I. in the contemporary world and reopens a conversation that East Asian thinkers, until barely a century ago, held with remarkable clarity: that intelligence must be situated within a broader horizon of meaning, relation, and moral orientation. By revisiting such neglected traditions, we may find resources for navigating the dilemmas that overwhelm contemporary reason in the age of A.I. To go beyond intelligence is not to abandon it, but to place it under the guidance of value. For a future with and alongside intelligence, this talk seeks to find clues in the past.  

 

Inkeon Chun is director of Kansong Art Museum in Daegu. He studied at Lewis & Clark College as well as Korea University. He has decades of experience in the Korean art scene with numerous positions in museum and art committees. Recently, he has made forays into combining art with NFT. Mr Chun also has academic affiliation with the Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies at Seoul National University.

Soh-Yeong Roh is director of Art Center Nabi in Seoul. She has particular interest in new media and the intersection between art and technology. As such, she has organized numerous exhibitions and projects on technology, robotics, and digital art. She has been occupied with A.I. for roughly a decade, long before the rise of ChatGPT. Ms Roh has degrees from College of William & Mary as well as Stanford University.  

 

The event is co-hosted by the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and Art Center Nabi.