Min Young Choi

Min Young Choi is a PhD candidate in the Department of History of Art at SOAS, specialising in modern Korean art history. Her research focuses on the cultural and political dynamics of Korea during the 1930s, a period characterised by the active reception of modern institutions and practices under the newly implemented policy of “Cultural Rule,” introduced following the March 1st Movement in 1919. 

Situated on the eve of global conflict, this decade witnessed a flourishing of cultural activity across the Korean peninsula, as colonial urbanisation, technological development, and the expanding circulation of images and commodities transformed both the artistic environment and everyday life. Within this context, she explores the evolving relationship between visual art and the socio-political conditions of Korea under Japanese rule. Her research examines how Korean artists, operating within the constraints of imperial power, sought to construct and assert their distinct artistic visions. She investigates how these artists engaged with newly emerging cultural spaces in Kyŏngsŏng—including department stores, galleries, museums, and cafés—and analyses how such spaces provided both opportunities and limitations for artistic expression. 

Central to her work is an exploration of how these spaces embodied the contradictions of colonial modernity, functioning simultaneously as instruments of imperial ideology and as arenas where artists negotiated new modes of visibility, authorship, and aesthetic experimentation. She is particularly interested in how the city offered novel spatial experiences to artists and how the relationship between individuals and the urban environment influenced both artistic production and cultural meaning. This focus on the dynamic interaction between place and artistic agency reflects her broader engagement with how space is socially produced and how it both shapes and is shaped by cultural activity.

 Beyond her core focus, her wider academic interests include East Asian art history, the histories of urban development, and the role of visual culture within these evolving contexts. She engages with political and sociological theory, particularly where it illuminates the social functions and spatial dynamics of art. Against this backdrop, her doctoral research adopts an interdisciplinary approach drawing from art history, urban studies, cultural geography, and critical theory. Through this framework, her work aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of how art, space, and power converged in early twentieth-century Korea, and how artists navigated, appropriated, and reimagined the colonial city through their work.

• Colonial modernity, 
• Urban planning, 
• Art institutions, 
• History of art markets, 
• East Asian art history, 
• Socio-political theory