Art and Soft Power in the UK and South Korea - examining the role and impact of Korean artefacts in museum settings

该项目探讨了利用人工制品加强区域间关系和提高对不同文化的认识。聚焦于英国博物馆收藏的韩国物品，它质疑它们的收藏和展示如何体现了英国和韩国过去和现在的关系。该项目基于这样一种信念，即艺术可以提高一个民族的意识，加强跨文化联系，促进跨地区利益。尽管如此，博物馆文物在外交和政治背景下的作用仍未得到充分研究，因此该项目填补了一个重要的空白。该项目借鉴了软实力和国家品牌的国际研究。软实力可以定义为通过吸引和说服实现目标的能力，而国家品牌是指一个国家的形象和声誉。各国政府日益认识到，一个国家在国际舞台上影响决策过程和行为的能力在很大程度上取决于这两个因素。艺术在这方面发挥着关键作用，因为许多软实力计划都以文化和创意产出为中心。在英国和韩国也是如此，艺术品及其公开展示一直是英韩软实力议程的核心。伦敦是欧洲首都中唯一一个在英国博物馆和V&A博物馆等主要公共机关设有韩国美术馆的国家。这两场比赛都是由韩国赞助商出资举办的，目的是提升韩国的民族品牌。该项目的意义在于促进了英国和韩国学术和文化机构的利益相关者之间的跨机构对话，这些利益相关者直接与韩国文化遗产有关。该项目的性质需要跨学科的方法，它汇集了艺术史、博物馆管理、策展和国际研究领域的专业知识。这使我们能够从不同的方法、理论和策展角度来探讨项目的主题。它创造了一个解释性的平台，可以提出一些批判性的问题，比如：“通过大英博物馆和国立中央博物馆的韩国文物展示，韩国的国家形象是如何在视觉上被讲述的？”在英国和韩国展出韩国文物的基础是什么？梨花女子大学博物馆和剑桥大学菲茨威廉博物馆等大学博物馆展出韩国文物的原因是什么？英国博物馆如何学习韩国的策展实践，反之亦然？该项目以在英国和韩国举行的一系列活动为中心，旨在建立跨学科对话和跨区域网络。该项目涵盖会议、实地考察、实地考察、圆桌讨论、出版成果和在线平台，将产生一系列针对学术受益者和广大公众的短期、中期和长期成果。该项目将加强英国和韩国博物馆之间的关系，增进对关键问题和挑战的相互理解。它将对下一代学术和博物馆专业人士产生积极影响，促进他们的知识和扩大他们的网络。该项目将使我们能够制定一个更大的合作计划，这将有助于在英国和韩国进行更广泛的艺术外交和国家品牌讨论，并纳入更广泛的案例研究。

This project examines the use of artefacts to strengthen interregional relations and enhance awareness of different cultures. Focusing on Korean objects in UK museum collections, it questions how their collecting and display manifest the relationship between the UK and South Korea in past and present times. The project is underpinned by the belief that art can raise awareness of a nation, strengthen intercultural connections, and promote cross-regional interests. Despite this, the role of museum artefacts in diplomatic and political contexts remains under-researched and the project therefore fills an important gap. The project draws on international studies on soft power and nation branding. Soft power may be defined as the ability to achieve objectives through attraction and persuasion, while nation branding refers to the image and reputation of a state. Increasingly, governments have realised that a nation's ability to influence decision making processes and behaviours in the international arena heavily depends on these two factors. Art plays a key role in this as many soft power schemes center on cultural and creative outputs. This is also the case in the UK and South Korea where art objects and their public display have been central to UK-South Korea soft power agendas. This is reflected in the fact that London is the only European capital with two galleries of Korean art, housed in major public institutions, namely the British Museum and the V&A Museum. Both were funded by Korean sponsors with the aim to improve Korea's nation brand. The significance of the project lies in its facilitation of cross-institutional dialogues between UK and Korean stakeholders from academic and cultural institutions who work directly with Korean cultural heritage. The nature of the project necessitates an interdisciplinary approach, and it brings together expertise in the fields of art history, museum management, curating and international studies. This enables us to approach the theme of the project from different methodological, theoretical, and curatorial perspectives. It creates an interpretative platform for asking critical questions, such as: How is the national image of Korea narrated visually through representations of Korean artefacts at the British Museum and the National Museum of Korea? Which concerns underpin exhibition displays of Korean artefacts in the UK and Korea? Which issues drive the display of Korean objects at university museums, such as Ewha Womans University Museum and the Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge? How can UK museums learn from South Korean curatorial practices and vice versa?The project centers on a range of activities held in the UK and South Korea, aimed at establishing interdisciplinary dialogues, and cross-regional networks. Spanning conferences, fieldtrips, site visits, roundtable discussions, published outcomes and an online platform, the project will produce a range of short, mid, and long-term outputs aimed at academic beneficiaries and the wider public. The project will strengthen relations between UK and South Korean museums and enhance mutual understanding of key issues and challenges. It will positively influence the next generation of academic and museum professionals, further their knowledge and expand their networks. The project will enable us to develop a larger collaborative scheme that will contribute to broader discussions of art diplomacy and nation branding in the UK and South Korea, incorporating a wider set of case studies.