Artsy Weirdness from Pyongyang

Believing is seeing, and when the Dear Leader sends ‘Flowers for Kim Il Sung’ abroad, we see the DPRK as he wants us to see it.

The unique show is the result of a close cooperation between MAK and the relevant ministry in Pyongyang. The curators in Vienna had to find a “consensus” with the North Korean functionaries, says MAK director Peter Noever. The most sensitive pieces were the 16 portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jung Il, Noever says, explaining that it took a long time for the museum to persuade the skeptical North Koreans to let them include the portraits in the show.

The museum also encountered skepticism within Austria, where it was heavily criticized for working together with the Pyongyang regime. Austria’s right-wing populist Freedom Party (FPÖ) was particularly critical of the exhibition.

Any attempt to “critically contextualize” the art could have put the whole exhibit at risk, explains Noever. Out of consideration for the sensitivities of the North Koreans, the MAK is therefore refraining from posting wall labels commenting on the artworks.

Of course, this is a diplomatic effort, with almost no artistic value. But, it still offers insight into the perspective of a sadistic regime.

The imagery of Kim Jong Il in these portraits echoes varied descriptions of him offered over the years by Western observers and North Korean defectors. Numerous published profiles of Kim Jong Il have emphasized not only his vanity and cruelty (cf. Kang Chol-Hwan’s memoir The Aquariums of Pyongyang, and defector accounts in Bradley Martin’s Under The Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty), but also his élan, charm, style, vigor, intelligence, and attention to detail. Reports abound of Kim’s skill as a micro-manager, with exquisite attention to detail, and in his father’s style, offering on-the-spot guidance during his visits to military installations, Communist Party functions, factories, and farms. Photos and video footage have always shown him smiling, snappily-dressed in his signature suits (or his down-jacket), with a bouffant hairdo, sunglasses, and platform shoes; raising his arms, he always appears energetic and vigorous.

But what is not seen in the MAK exhibit is the Kim Jong Il of 2010. Photos and videos from the April 2009 North Korean Supreme Peoples’ Assembly—which reappointed Kim Jong Il as Supreme Leader of the DPRK—were revealing in terms of his medical condition after his 2008 stroke and likely incapacitation, even following a course of rehabilitation. In the videos and photos, Kim was halting, weak, and walked with a mild limp; he appeared to have lost a significant amount of weight; while neatly-attired, his bouffant hairdo was absent. Even more striking was his upper extremity left-sided weakness and partial spasticity in his left arm; his left arm carriage was stiff; when clapping his hands, only his right arm clapped, against a stiff, spastic left arm. The videos and photos also suggested possible hemi-neglect (he appeared to look off to the right much of the time and looked bewildered during the conference proceedings) and the loss of awareness of deficit that is found in approximately 10 percent of stroke victims. Kim exhibited enough residual neurologic signs to raise concerns about the magnitude of his stroke and its likely associated neuropsychiatric impairment.

Optimistically, the Kim regime is telling the civilized world what it wants its own country to become: a rather bizarre Confucian cult with ultra-modern architecture and citizens running around in traditional Korean garb.

Powered by ScribeFire.


Filed under: Academia, Europe, Korea Tagged: art, Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art (MAK), dprk, flowers for kim il sung, north korea