SeMA, Nam-Seoul Museum of Art presents Rethinking Craft: Between studio craft and contemporary art. The exhibition aims to illuminate unnoticed artworks and areas within SeMA’s collection. As its first attempt, the museum is focusing on its contemporary craft collections. 

Crafts is one of the longest surviving forms of art. However, its definition has been constantly challenged by fundamental questions raised by the changing notion of art and the process of industrialization. In the process of discussion, new forms of craftworks based on aesthetic expression rather than functionality, deviating from its expected quality of practical use, have played a significant role. 

Rethinking Craft: Between studio craft and contemporary art consists of works from contemporary craft artists who have developed their art practices through formal experiments as well as explorations of materials and techniques. The artists are unique in their engagement with unconstrained art practices based on traditional concepts of craft and artistic expansion across different genres of art. 

The exhibition tries to offer multiple angles of view on contemporary craft by presenting together various disciplines of art, including paintings and sculptures that exhibit similar qualities in artistic expression and subject matter to the craftworks from the collection. Additionally, the exhibition includes works that strategically appropriate traditional materials and techniques of craft, thereby giving us an opportunity to re-think the meaning of craft in contemporary art.