“May the King’s Soul Return!”
The Uigwe Protocols and Jongmyo Shrine in the Korean Renaissance
Outline
The death of a member of royalty is always a special case, and this was particularly true in Korea’s Joseon dynasty (1392–1897). What makes royal death different from an ordinary death includes the grand ritual surrounding it, the solemn architecture to serve it, and the extensive recording of it for posterity. Focusing on the death of King Jeongjo (r. 1776–1800), who reigned during the cultural apogee of eighteenth-century Korea, this exhibition will provide a North American audience with fresh, in-depth knowledge of the material and archival culture of Korean royalty epitomized in Jongmyo (the Royal Ancestral Shrine, a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and Uigwe (Royal Protocols, on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register).
The proposed exhibition venues are leading art museums and East Asian libraries of North America, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the C.V. Starr East Asian Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Richard C. Rudolph East Asian Library at the University of California, Los Angeles. Given that the objects—a large architectural complex, and books with many pages of illustrations—are by nature very hard to exhibit within the limited space of a museum or library, this project is organized as a digitally reconstructed, virtual exhibition with select few objects on display.
Titled “May the King’s Soul Return,” this exhibition will be the first in North America to shed light on the royal culture of Korea in conjunction with ceremonial architecture and protocols for royal death. Additionally, it will be an important step forward in the recent rapidly growing trend that brings cutting-edge digital technology into museums and libraries.
Organizing Perspective
Royal death in Joseon involved a great rite of passage. Upon death, a king or queen transformed from a human with temporal power to an ancestral god of the state. Accordingly, the abode of his or her soul had to be moved from the physical body residing at the royal palace to the spirit tablet housed in the Royal Ancestral Shrine, Jongmyo. The life after royal death thus consisted of two primary stages during a three-year mourning period: burial of a physical body in an individual tomb and then enshrinement of a spirit tablet in the sole state ancestral shrine. Magnificent royal processions of more than 10,000 mourners punctuated these two great events: a funeral procession toward a tomb, then an enshrinement procession toward Jongmyo. With the latter event marking the end of the three-year funerary procedures, everyday life resumed for the people, and the deceased royal became a new ancestral god of the state.
The funeral ceremony of King Jeongjo basically followed this procedure. Remarkably, the four types of royal protocols for his death included a variety of illustrations of the two great royal processions and his tomb and ritual paraphernalia, as well as extremely detailed information about all the events that occurred during the three-year mourning period. These sources represent the full maturity of the material and archival culture in eighteenth-century Korea.
Jongmyo, the final destination where the spirits of King Jeongjo and his consort would take eternal rest, was first constructed in 1395 CE, soon after the foundation of the Joseon dynasty. It was used as the legitimate royal ancestral shrine in which the spirit tablets of deceased kings and queens were housed, and regular large-scale memorial services to the ancestors were conducted there annually barring extreme circumstances preventing the rite. Thanks to the growing number of the spirit tablets housed there as time went on, Jongmyo gradually expanded its Main Hall, resulting in the longest building of premodern Korea and making this trait its signature. Jongmyo is considered to be an architectural masterpiece of East Asia, as is well demonstrated by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry’s comment that its architectural solemnity was comparable only to that of the Greek Parthenon.
The ancestral rite and the accompanying music and dance performed in Jongmyo, inscribed in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, are the sole extant examples in East Asia that preserve their original ancient forms and procedures. The Jongmyo rite, greatly elaborated in the reign of King Jeongjo, was a large-scale state ceremony in which more than 140 participants from high-ranking officials to hands-on staff were mobilized to serve the royal ancestral rite for more than seven hours from midnight to dawn. Besides five annual great sacrifices, many regular services were held throughout the year at Jongmyo. The shrine’s grand architecture, exceptional longevity, and recurring ceremonies all testify that Jongmyo was not only an integral part of the life after royal death but also iconic in the royal culture of the Joseon.
Organization of the Exhibition
This exhibition centers on the four kinds of Uigwe protocols for Jeongjo’s death, and the architecture and rite of Jongmyo, to give the audience a glimpse of the cultural apogee reached in eighteenth-century Korean royal culture.
The Uigwe protocols for Jeongjo’s death include the illustrations of two great royal processions toward his tomb and toward Jongmyo. They consist of forty paintings and twenty-four paintings, respectively. In order to show the entire view of each procession, individual paintings will be connected digitally in sequence and reproduced into one painting, each of which approximately measures 1.5 x 43 ft, and 1.5 x 26 ft. Each digitally reconstructed painting will be displayed with its introductory scripts with translations and annotations. Individual ritual objects related to the processions such as spirit tablets and a palanquin for a spirit tablet will be also displayed.
The Uigwe protocols that will be on display include the Royal Protocol of the State Funeral Directorate for King Jeongjo (Jeongjo gukjang dogam uigwe, 1800), the Royal Protocol of the Royal Tomb Directorate (Geolleung Salleung dogam uigwe, 1821), the Royal Protocol of the Directorate for the Coffin Hall and Soul Hall (Binjeon honjeon dogam uigwe, 1800), and the Royal Protocol of the Association Sacrifice Directorate for King Jeongjo (Jeongjo bumyo dogam uigwe, 1802). To show the case of a queen, a funeral procession painting from the Royal Protocol of the Association Sacrifice Directorate for Queen Inwon (Inwon wanghu bumyo dogam uigwe, 1759) will be digitally reconstructed for display as well.
The architecture and ceremonies of Jongmyo will be displayed in a virtual reality. Using holographic films, Augmented Reality, and gesture-based kinetic technology, the main ceremonial platform called woldae and the colonnade of the Main Hall of Jongmyo will be reconstructed digitally. Each virtual scene will be activated in accordance with viewers’ movements, gestures, and lines of sight. Viewers can also take a photo of, annotate, browse the web on, and export the specific scene through their own devices while roaming through every part of the virtual Jongmyo.
Target Audience
This project will target the general audience of North America. Understanding the exhibition will not require any prior knowledge of Korean art, culture, or history. Its various digital techniques will be designed to attract attention from members of the “digital generation.” An online gallery will be created to provide more information and scholarly references to Jongmyo and royal visual culture in the Korean renaissance for advanced learners.
Takeaway Points
This exhibition will provide a North American audience with a fresh experience of the royal culture of the Korean renaissance, including a consideration of what motivated Korean royalty of the late Joseon to produce and consume exuberant artworks. The architecture and ceremony of Jongmyo tell us that one of the strong royal motivations was the creation of an overarching image of eternal life of royalty. We expect that this experience will be instrumental in fostering an in-depth appreciation of the visual and material culture of Korean royalty and will stimulate further exploration of Korean aesthetic values and culture in general.
Objects
The exhibition will include approximately 5 to 10 works, including paintings, books, prints, ritual objects, photographs, miniature models, and digital media produced using VR and AR technology.
Space Requirements
The exhibition requires space exclusively reserved for the digitally reconstructed Jongmyo complex. Additional space for paintings, books, and other objects will be considered in accordance with the specific needs of the museum or library.
Tentative Schedule
The exhibition can be held as early as Fall 2019 or as late as Spring 2020. It is designed to last for more than three months. The duration can vary according to a host institution’s needs.
Organizers
This exhibition is a pilot project of the Greening Artistic Heritage of Asia Foundation. GC Jung (Ph.D., Buddhist Art; Chair, The Sustainable Korean Culture Institute, Inc.) will organize the master plan of the exhibition in collaboration with Sooa McCormick (Ph.D. Korean Art; Assistant Curator of Korean Art, Cleveland Museum of Art). Yang Yun-Sik (Ph.D. Korean Architecture; Executive Director, The Greening Artistic Heritage of Asia Foundation) will produce and manage objects in collaboration with Kim Yun-Seong (Film Director, Postmedia), Hong Seung-Mo (CEO, Postmedia), and Kim Jeong-Hun (Director, Postmedia). Jaeyong Chang (Ph.D. Korean History; Librarian of the Korean Collection, C.V. Starr East Asian Library, UC Berkeley) will edit and publish exhibition materials in collaboration with Albert F. Chung (Ph.D. Candidate, Aesthetics).
Publication
A fully illustrated publication will accompany the exhibition.
Conference
An international conference titled “Royal Ceremonies, Visual Culture, and Kingship in Eighteenth-Century Korean Renaissance” will be organized in conjunction with the exhibit. For this, see the separate proposal for a conference.