Joan Kee
EDUCATION Institute of Fine Arts, New York University,
Ph.D, September 2008
Dissertation: Points, Lines, Encounters, Worlds:
Tansaekhwa and the Formation of Contemporary
Korean Art
Harvard Law School,
J.D., June 2000
Yale University,
B.A., History of Art, May 1997
Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Distinction in the Major
ACADEMIC Assistant Professor
POSITIONS History of Art, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
September 2008-present
Visiting Scholar
Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California at
Berkeley, September-December 2011
Visiting Lecturer
History of Art Department, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY,
January-May 2006
Visiting Scholar
Centre for the Study of Globalization and Cultures,
University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong,
September 2001-February 2003
Visiting Lecturer
Tufts University, Medford, MA,
September-December, 1999
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BOOK Contemporary Korean Art: Tansaekhwa and the Urgency of
Method, (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota
Press, forthcoming June 2013)
EDITED JOURNAL “On Scale,” Art History (with Emanuele Lugli), in
ISSUES preparation, Fall 2014
“Contemporaneity and Art in Southeast Asia,” Third Text
(with Patrick Flores) 25:4 (August 2011).
“Intersections: Issues in Contemporary Art,” Positions: East
Asia Cultures Critique 12:3 (Winter 2004).
JURIED ARTICLES “Contemporary Art in Early Colonial Korea: The Self
(SELECTED) Portraits of Ko Hui-dong,” Art History 36:2
(April 2013), forthcoming.
“Use on Vacation: The Non-Sculptures of Lee Seung-taek,”
Archives of Asian Art 60:1 (Spring 2013),
forthcoming
“The Connoisseurial Advantage: Putting Art Historical
Practices to Work in Cases of Copyright Law,”
Journal of Law, Culture and the Humanities 8:2
(June 2012): 364-380.
“Contemporaneity as Calculus: The View from Postwar
Korea,” Third Text 25:5 (October 2011): 563-576.
“The Curious Case of Contemporary Ink Painting,” Art
Journal 69:2 (Fall 2010): 88-113.
“Points, Lines, Encounters: The World According to Lee
Ufan,” Oxford Art Journal 31:3 (October 2008):
403-424.
“Trouble in ‘New Utopia,’” “Intersections: Issues in
Contemporary Art,” Positions: East Asia Cultures
Critique 12:3 (Winter 2004): 667-686.
“A Singular Kind of Action: Early Gutai Painting 1954-
1957,” Oxford Art Journal 26:2 (Fall 2003): 121-
140.
“Some Thoughts on the Practice of Oscillation: Works by
Suh Do-Ho and Oh Inhwan," Third Text 17:2 (June
2003): 141-150.
--Reprinted in Third Text Asia 3 (Autumn 2009):
55-67.
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“Envisaging Hollowness in Contemporary Singapore,” Art
Journal 60:3 (Fall 2001): 66-75.
“Reclaiming Sites of Independence in Pak Ch’ŏl-su’s
301/302,” “Asia Pacific Cinemas: A Spectral
Surface,” Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique,
eds. Esther Yau and Kyung Hyun Kim, 9:2 (Fall
2001): 449-466.
BOOK “The World in Plain View: Form in the Service of the
CHAPTERS Global,” Art, Themes, and Histories, 1989 to the
Present, eds. Alexander Dumbadze and Suzanne
Hudson, (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013), forthcoming
“Visual Reconnaissance,” Alien Encounters: Asian American
Popular Culture, eds. Thuy Linh Tu Nguyen and
Mimi Nguyen, (Durham: Duke University Press,
2007), 130-149.
“Thinking About ‘Contemporary Asian Art’: Some Reflections
on Space Traffic,” Space Traffic, (Melbourne and
Hong Kong: West Space and Para/Site, 2002),
25-28.
CATALOGUE “Field and Stream: The Terrain of Contemporary Asian Art,”
ESSAYS The Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art,
(Brisbane: Queensland Art Gallery, 2012),
forthcoming
“A Fine Occupation,” Anish Kapoor, (Seoul: Leeum Museum,
2012), forthcoming
“True Believer,” Park Seobo, (Seoul: Kukje Gallery, 2011),
8-18.
--Reprinted in Misul kwa pipy’ŏng 23 (Spring
2011): 28-35.
“Tea and Sympathy,” The Enlightenments, (Edinburgh:
Edinburgh Art Festival, 2009), 20-21
“Longevity Studies: The Contemporary Korean Art
Exhibition at Fifty,” Your Bright Future: 12
Korean Artists, (Houston and Los Angeles: Museum
of Fine Arts Houston and the Los Angeles County
Museum of Art, 2009), 16-28.
“Collection Agency,” Sasa [44]: Exhibited Works in
Chronological Order, (Seoul: Kukje Gallery, 2008),
11-13.
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“Work and Play,” Donghee Koo: Synthetic Experience,
(Seoul: Atelier Hérmès, 2008), 70-74.
“What is Feminist About Contemporary Asian Women’s
Art?,” Global Feminisms, (Brooklyn and London:
Brooklyn Museum and Merrell Press, 2007), 106-
121.
-Excerpt reprinted in The Feminism and Visual
Culture Reader, 2nd ed., ed. Amelia Jones, (London:
Routledge, 2010), 373-377.
-Revised version published in Contemporary Art in
Asia: A Critical Reader, eds. Melissa Chiu and
Benjamin Genocchio, (Cambridge and London: MIT
Press, 2011), 347-369.
“Housewarming: A Statement of Intent,” Housewarming,
(Hong Kong: Para/Site, 2003), 4-11.
“Evanescent Terrain: The Unknowable Home in the Works
of Do-Ho Suh, Home and Away: The New
Globalism, (Vancouver: Vancouver Art Gallery,
2003), 13-19
“Neither Ours Nor Others,” Landscape of Differences: The
Korean Pavilion at the 50th Venice Biennale, (Seoul:
Korea Culture and Arts Foundation 2003), 122-
135.
-Self-translated in the same volume as Kunyang
chakp’umdul, 116-121.
“Who’s Afraid of Asian American Art?,” Tradeshow: New
Currents in Recent Asian American Art, (Shanghai:
CR2 Gallery, 2002), 32-43.
“Inclusion/Expulsion: The Non-Performances of Oh Inhwan,”
My Beautiful Laundromat, (Seoul: Project
Space Sarubia, 2002), u.p.
OTHER ESSAYS “Fitting in Scale,” Art Bulletin 93:4, forthcoming,
AND ARTICLES December 2012
(SELECTED) “Why Chinese Paintings Are So Large,” Third Text 26:6,
forthcoming, November 2012
“Moves in the Field,” “The And: An Expanded Questionnaire
on the Contemporary,” Field Notes 1, (Summer
2012)
“False Fronts: The Art of Ming Wong,” Artforum 50:9
(May 2012): 262-269.
“Contemporary Southeast Asian Art: The Right Kind of
Trouble,” Third Text 25:4 (August 2011): 371-381.
“Close-up: Party Lines,” Artforum 49:5 (January 2011):
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176-177, 242-243
“Irrelevance That Matters,” 15th anniversary issue of Art
Asia Pacific 61 (November/ December 2008): 246-
247.
“Introduction: Twenty Questions,” “Intersections: Issues
in Contemporary,” Positions: East Asia Cultures
Critique 12:3 (Winter 2004): 599-610.
“A Call for a Normalized ‘Contemporary’ Art History,”
DiAAAlogue: Newsletter of the Asia Art Archive,
www.aaa.org.hk, June 2004.
“Art, Hong Kong, Hybridity: A Task of Reconsideration,”
Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art 2:2
(June 2003): 90-98.
“Claim Check: Recent Korean Photography,” Tema Celeste
96 (March/April 2003): 62-67.
“Inertia Reels: Mobility in Hong Kong Video,” Afterimage
29:4 (2002): 8-10.
“Resting with Mingwei: Subversive Cosmpolitanism in the
Conceptual Projects of Lee Mingwei,” Yishu:
Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art 1:1 (June
2002): 18-23.
“Processes of Erasure: Paul Pfeiffer’s Narratives of the
Global,” Art Asia Pacific 32 (2001): 64-69.
“The Singular Pluralities of Suh Do-Ho,” Art Asia Pacific
34 (2002): 44-51.
REVIEWS AND “Focus Preview: Gutai: Splendid Playground, Artforum
ENTRIES (January 2013), forthcoming
(SELECTED) “Requiem for the Sun at Blum and Poe,” Artforum 50:9
(May 2012): 316.
“Focus Preview: Lee Ufan,” Artforum (May 2011): 133.
“Review: Yang Haegue,” Artforum (April 2010): 191.
“Calibrated Expectations: A Roundtable on the Inaugural
Singapore Biennale 2006,” participant, Broadsheet
35:3 (2006): 141-142.
Grove Dictonary of Art Online, Contemporary Asian Art
update, ed. Melissa Chiu, September 2005
(www.groveart.com) “Bahc Yiso,”
“Theresa Hak Kyung Cha,” “Byron Kim,” “Kim
Sooja” “Lee Bul,” “Lee Mingwei,” “Do-ho Suh,”
“Videotage.”
“Black Belt at the Studio Museum in Harlem,”
CAA Reviews, December 2003
David Clarke, “Hong Kong Art: Culture and
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Decolonization,” (Durham: Duke University Press,
2002), CAA Reviews, December 2002
“An Interview With Yang Fudong,” Tema Celeste 92
(July/August 2002): 56-59.
“Aperto Bangkok,” Flash Art (November/December
1999): 67-68.
“An Interview with Wenda Gu, Inside/Out: New Chinese
Art, Asia Society,(www.asiasociety.org/insideout),
July 13, 1998.
LECTURES, “The Measure of the World: Kang Se-hwang’s Journey
CONFERENCE, AND to Songdo,” Kunsthistoriches Institut, November 8,
SYMPOSIA PAPERS 2012
(SELECTED) “The Value of No Use: On Lee Seung-taek’s Non-
Sculptures,” “Korean Contemporary Art: Between
Tradition, Modernity, and Globalisation,” Courtauld
Institute of Art, 29 June 2012
“Kwon Young-woo Stands His Ground: Abstract Ink
Painting in Postwar Korea,” University of Chicago,
April 28, 2012
“Grounds for Photography in Authoritarian South Korea,”
“New Perspectives on Asian Design and Its
Histories,” Victoria and Albert Museum, London,
July 22, 2011
Invited response, “Feminism,” College Art Association
Centennial Panel New York, February 10, 2011
“The Martial Imperative in Postwar South Korean Art,”
“Gender and the Body in Contemporary Asian Art,”
University of Heidelberg, December 16, 2009
“Why Chinese Paintings Are So Large,” “Modernity’s
Cultural Politics: China in Context,” Courtauld
Institute of Art, London, October 24, 2009.
“Painting Takes Exception: Park Seobo’s Écriture in Yushin
Korea,” Shoptalk 154, Center for Advanced Study
in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art,
Washington D.C., April 9, 2009
“Contemporaneity as Calculus: The View from Seventies
Korea,” Association of Art Historians Annual
Conference, Manchester Metropolitan University,
Manchester, UK, April 4, 2009
“Closer: What Asian Women’s Art Has to Say About
Contemporaneity,” “Places at the Table: Asian
Women Artists and Gender Dynamics,” Institute of
7
East Asian Studies, University of California at
Berkeley, September 13, 2008
“Painting and the City: A Functionalist View,” “Colonial
Modernity in Urban Korea,” Centre for Korean
Studies, University of British Columbia, Vancouver,
February 19, 2006
“The Ecology of Form: Portraiture in the Muhammad Shah
Era,” “Theory and Practice of Islamic Portraiture,”
Institute of Fine Arts, New York University,
September 24, 2005
“A Logical Reversion to Form,” “Claims to Authority:
Workshop on Modern and Contemporary Art in East
Asia,” Institute of Fine Arts, New York University,
New York, May 21, 2005
“A Proposal for Visual Accountability: Notes on a
Methodological Predicament,” “Challenges in Asian
American Art,” Rockefeller Foundation/New
York University, New York, March 22, 2004
“Asiamericasia: Towards a Globalized Asian American Art,”
College Art Association Annual Conference,
Seattle, WA, February 19, 2004
“The Language of Oscillation: Reassessing Contemporary
‘Asian’ Art,” College Art Association Annual
Conference, Philadelphia, PA, February 23, 2002
“The Visual Fictions of the Global and the National in
Contemporary Seoul,” International Center for
Advanced Studies, New York University, March
23, 2001
“Single Asian Female: Hysteria and Malaise in Korean
Film,” “Asia/Pacific Cinemas Workshop,” University
of California at Irvine, October 9,1999
“Generation v. Individual: The Case of Contemporary
Korean American Visual Art,” Columbia University
Teachers’ College, April 10, 1999
“The Image Significant: Generation and Identity in
Contemporary Korean Video Art,” Association for
Asian Studies Annual Conference, Boston, MA,
March 12, 1999
“Confronting Multiple Colonization in Contemporary
Korean Art,” College Art Association Annual
Conference, Toronto, Canada, February 26,1998
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INVITED LECTURES “Sizing Up Scale,” Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, April 1,
AND RESPONSES 2013
(SELECTED) Discussant, “A Connective History of Qing Art: Visuality,
Images and Imaginaries,” University of Hong Kong,
June 8-10, 2012
“Grounds for Photography in Authoritarian South Korea,”
University of Hong Kong, May 22, 2012.
Discussant, “Voices of Mono-ha Artists, Contemporary
Artists in Japan, Circa 1970,” University of
Southern California, February 24, 2012
“Ming Wong’s Cultural Studies,” University of Colorado at
Boulder, February 14, 2012,
Panelist, “Trading Ideas: Emerging Discourses on Asian
Contemporary Art,” Yerba Buena Center for the
Arts, San Francisco, November 9, 2011
Conversation with Lee Ufan, “States of Emergency:
Objects as Agency, ca. 1970,” Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum, New York, September 16,
2011
“Fair Game: Performance and the Look of Equality,”
School of the Art Institute Chicago, April 8, 2011
“The Unlikeliest Place: Korean Art’s 20th Century, British
Museum, November 15, 2010
“Painting Exception in Authoritarian Korea,” Center for
Korean Studies, University of California at Berkeley,
October 15, 2010
“The Frontality of Postwar Korean Photography,” Santa
Barbara Museum of Art, August 29, 2010
“Public Works: Thinking Through Recent Art in Korea,”
Museum of Fine Arts Houston, November 20, 2009
--Presented also at the Departments of Art History
and Asian Studies, Occidental College, Los Angeles,
November 5, 2009
“The Wages of Looking in Yushin Korea” Center for
Korean Studies, University of Toronto, September
25, 2009
“The Curious Case of Contemporary Ink Painting,”
Department of Fine Arts and Art History, George
Washington University, Washington D.C., March 11,
2009.
Moderator for keynote panel, “A Century of Asian
American Art: Archives, Scholarship, and Curation,”
Asian Pacific American Institute, New York
University, March 6, 2009
Roundtable participant, Art Journal roundtable on
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“Transnationalism,” College Art Association, Los
Angeles, CA, February 26, 2009
Panelist, “Why Does the Work of Asian Women Artists
Matter?,” Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum,
University of Minnesota, February 19, 2009
“The Commitment to Ink,” “Suh Se-ok,” Museum of Fine
Arts, Houston, January 25, 2008
Moderator, “Conversations: Art in Context,” “TransPOP:
Korea Vietnam Remix Symposium,” Arts Council
Korea (ARKO) Art Center, Seoul, January 19, 2008
“Context: A Normative Question for Contemporary
Korean Art,” 76th Yonsei-Korea Foundation Forum,
Yonsei University, Seoul, November 20, 2007
--Presented in modified form as “Context: A
Normative Question for Contemporary Asian Art,”
Korea National University of the Arts, Seoul,
November 22, 2007.
Respondent, “Contemporary Art and the Grand Narrative,”
National Museum of Singapore, July 22, 2007
“In and Out of Context: Imagemaking in Hong Kong,”
Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, November
30, 2006
“Points, Lines, Encounters,” Korean Studies Program
Colloquium Series, University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor, November 7, 2005
“One Way or Many?,” “Same and Different: Art, Artists,
and Cultural Space in East Asia,” San Diego Museum
of Art, November 6, 2004
Discussant, “Comparative Contemporaries: Southeast
Asian Art Criticism,” The Substation, Singapore,
October 18-20, 2003
“Whither Asian Art Today? Trends in ‘Contemporary
Asian Art,’” Asia Art Archive and Chinese University
of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, February 24, 2003
CONFERENCES “Size Matters: Questions of Scale,” (co-organized with
AND SYMPOSIA Emanuele Lugli), Kunsthistoriches Institut, Florence,
ORGANIZED Italy, November 8-10, 2012
“Impossible Purities: Modern East Asian Art and the
Question of Medium,” (co-organized with Chelsea
Foxwell), University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, April
28, 2012
“Saying Yes to Say No: Art and Culture in Sixties Japan,”
(co-organized with Natsu Oyobe and Jacob
10
Proctor), University of Michigan Museum of Art,
April 2, 2010
“Claims to Authority: Workshop on Modern and
Contemporary Art in East Asia,” Institute of Fine
Arts, New York University, New York, May 20-21,
2005
FELLOWSHIPS Helmut F. Stern Professor, Institute for the Humanities
AND AWARDS University of Michigan, 2011-2012
(SELECTED)
History of Art Grant, Principal Investigator
Kress Foundation, February 2012
Short-Term Research Grant, Northeast Asia Council,
Association for Asian Studies, Summer 2011
Andrew W. Mellon Predoctoral Fellowship,
Center for the Advanced Study for Visual Art, National
Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2007-2009
Korea Foundation Field Research Fellowship,
Korea Foundation, 2007
Erwin Panofsky Fellowship
Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 2003-2008
Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship in Humanistic Studies,
Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation,
2003-2004
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Asia Research Institute,
National University of Singapore, February-June 2002
Short-Term Travel Grant, Northeast Asia Council,
Association for Asian Studies, 2001-2002
Center Fellowship, Project on Cities and Urban
Knowledges, International Center for Advanced Studies,
New York University, September 2000-June 2001
