
OUR WORK
Lee Ufan, Zen and the School of Things
Panel Discussion
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Presenter
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Panellists
Melanie Eastburn, Senior Curator Asian Art, AGNSW
Dr Julian Droogan, Associate Professor, Macquarie University
Kathryn Hunyor (moderator)
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Date
Saturday 19 October 2024
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Links
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To celebrate the opening of the exhibition ‘Quiet Resonance’ by Lee
Ufan, one of the most celebrated and significant artists of the past 6
decades, AGNSW Curator Melanie Eastburn, religion specialist Dr
Julian Droogan, and Japanese-speaking independent curator
Kathryn Hunyor joined in a conversation about his work.
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The expansive and often conceptual talk ranged from Lee Ufan’s
background growing up in Korea and moving to Japan, and his role
as one of the founders of the Mono-ha (‘school of things’) movement.
From Zen and ‘breathing’, to ‘nature vs manmade’, and ‘ma / space’,
the panelists grappled with both the Western / European and Eastern
/ East Asian philosophical ideas relevant to Lee Ufan’s work, and
how they merge to create his world view and artistic perspective.
The conversation was a chance to contemplate and question our
ideas of human engagement with the material world; and to consider
how art objects help us attune to ourselves, to each other and the
world around us.