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BTS Art Revolution - BTS 예술혁명 영문판
이지영 지음 / 파레시아 / 2019년 5월
평점 :
절판
You
may have heard of BTS, a seven members boy group from South Korea, that is
taking over the world.
“BTS,
Art Revolution: BTS meets Deleuze” is the
only existing english-written book which analyzes BTS’ artistic production from
an academic point of view, giving it value and meaning.
Not
surprisingly, it is also the only book that, although not sold by BTS’ company,
was publicized by Bighit with a tweet
in the official account.
The
author, Dr. Jiyoung Lee, aims to analyze the so-called "BTS phenomenon" as an indicator
("seismograph") of a new artistic and cultural revolution.
For Asian musicians which sing in non-english languages,
entering the dominant US music market has been, until now, almost impossible; moreover,
BTS was from a minor entertainment company that couldn’t use large-scale
capital and media. Especially because of such a humble beginning, their global
achievement can be seen as revolutionary, and not only in reference to the
music market. “BTS phenomenon is deterritorializing from the domain of
music and reterritorializing as symptoms of social and cultural changes” Dr. Lee states in the first part of her
book.
In their lyrics and speeches, BTS addresses diverse types
of structural oppression such as injustice,
inequality, and mental issues. They encourage the underdogs of society to
rise together against social injustice. “Because
BTS’ diagnosis of reality and call for social change exceed boundaries of
nations, fans from all around
the world seem to strongly empathize with the lyrics” Dr. Lee
writes.
“For
a fan, BTS is not just a subject of worship but friends whom the fans support,
help and grow alongside; and comrades who together actualize the common goal to
change the world.”
To explain the relationship between BTS
and ARMY, Lee uses the Deleuzian concept of “rizhome”, and depict the BTS
phenomenon as a “rizhomatic revolution”,
characterized by a system of multiple, horizontal and acentered connections,
which replaces the traditional vertical and centered hierarchy of society.
“In
this relationship [between BTS and ARMY], the stars no longer rule over the
fandom from the top of the hierarchy; instead, the stars and the fans share
thoughts, collaborate, and exist alongside each other” Dr. Lee explains. “The revolutionary potential thus
demonstrated by BTS-ARMY multiplicity is a symptom of the people’s political
unconscious about the direction in which the world must move towards following deterritorialization from neoliberal
oppression.”
In
the second part of the book, Dr.Lee discusses changes in art over time, and
proposes BTS as precursors of a new type
of art.
From
religious art, whose fundamental value was worship, to the art of reproduction
based on photography and films, with its exhibition value, we come to a kind of
art that takes place through the mobile network, and whose main value is "sharing".
Dr.
Lee presents in detail all the features of BTS' artistic production, defining
it as a “open cross-referential structure”
that “induces partecipation of the
spectator”.
In
this sense, the limit between spectator and artist gets thinner, and the
spectator, through the construction of analysis, reaction and remix videos, “partecipates in the process of art
production via online network, continuously generating new meaning of the
artwork”. “The spectator can thus be seen as an essential actor who
constitutes the network of video series that leads to a network of meaning”.
All of this cannot be
described by existing categories of art, and Dr. Lee proposes the new terms of “network-image”.
She also explains the difference between BTS network-image and other experimental
forms of art, such as the “Net Art” or the Guggenheim Museum’s Project.
In the Appendix, Dr.Lee introduces a more detailed
theoretical explanation of the network-image, with a reference to the theories
of Gilles Deleuze and Walter Benjamin. This section is more
difficult to understand, and it’s in my opinion mainly aimed at specialists of
the field.
I’m
not an english speaker, but the book is well written, and I was able to
understand everything. Despite the complexity of the subject, it explains all
the concepts clearly - much more clearly than I tried to summarize myself in
this review.
This
is why I think “BTS, Art Revolution” is a book for everyone; for ARMY, for
journalists, for researcher interested in art, music, philosophy or even
marketing and politics... Lee analysis may inspire other artists to create new
forms of network-image; and definitely it explains why BTS are so successful
and how they gained a fandom with such a high level of loyalty and dedication.
In
my opinion, every ARMY should read, support and publicize this book - even and
most of all with the general public - as a significant work that ratifies the value of BTS’ artistic
production from an academic point of view.
Jiyoung
Lee is not only a scholar - an exceptional scholar with two MAs and two PhD-,
but also an ARMY herself. So her book contains many insights about BTS work, about
the relationship between the group and its fandom, and about the story of their
achievement - which only an ARMY can fully know and understand; and satisfactorily
explains them all to the "outsider" readers.
For
a long time she has been promoting BTS as artists whose work is worthy of being
studied in an academic setting, and she is very active on Twitter (you can
follow her account @JeeLee06767883).
She
appeared also in a lot of tv shows, interviews, and she has always represented
ARMY and BTS work in the best possible way. So does her book.
“BTS,
Art Revolution: BTS meets Deleuze” is exhibited in the Kpop museum in Gyeongju,
South Korea.