Course Objective: This course will investigate the media of popular artistic expression and cultural experience in twentieth-century Korea. We will learn how to read the physical materials of artistic endeavor for what they have to say about art and Korea’s encounter with modernity. The course will touch on a wide variety of cultural and artistic mediums but will focus on oral performance, printed literature, and film from the first half of the century. Questions concerning the nature of these media, the historical roles that they played, and how to approach them critically will be explored. Screenings, as well as viewing and listening assignments, will be integral. “Hands-on” experimentation with the media will illuminate the artistic possibilities and technological constraints of alternate expressive modes. Participation in vocal performance, print production, and filmmaking practicums will be graded elements of the course.