[3] This exhibition represented young artists’ deep interest in new, contemporary art forms other than traditional painting and sculpture.
Zero, Origin, and New Exhibition Group felt that the Informel style was particularly self-indulgent and overly focused on the vacuous internal state of the artist rather than the issues of the industrial society being materialized around them.
This group claimed to be anti-informel and anti-Abstract Expressionism, and in their art they emphasized the flatness of the painting as a pure surface for geometric abstraction.
Unlike the other two groups involved in the Union Exhibition, whom were invested in exploring non-traditional mediums, Origin was chiefly concerned with painting and abstraction.
[3] In essence the exhibition was meant to be a convergence of art forms that opened the limits of expression and initiated a new beginning post-Informel.
[12] Kim Yeong-ja sat in a chair and held a clear plastic umbrella above her head while the other 9 performers circled around her, walking carefully over Choi Bung-hyun’s piece,Yeontong, which was situated nearby.
Then participants used candles to melt holes in the umbrella as a metaphor for “pure consciousness” and human spirit to burn through the veil of “modern” civilization and technological advances such as the nuclear bomb.
This collaboration amongst Zero, Origin and New Exhibition led to the formation of other collectives immediately following the show and stood as the initiation of performance art in Korea.
[8] Zero and New Exhibition Group formed Korean Young Artists Coalition due to their similar interests in object art, installations, and happenings.
[16] The tie between AG and the Union Exhibition lies in the continuation of collaborations between the artists and the goa of building Korean acceptance of Western art.
While AG lasted until 1975, Kim Ku-lim formed The Fourth Group with Bang Tae-soo, Jung Kang-ja, Chung Chan-seung, and others to explore more radical performance engagements.