The Misaligned Body: The Fourth Group and Performance Art in Authoritarian South Korea

Abstract

On one balmy evening in July 1970, two men appeared in Myeongdong, a bustling commercial district in Seoul, South Korea. In their button-up shirts, the men—Chung Chan S. (Chŏng Ch’an-sŭng) and Ko Ho—might have blended in with the workforce returning home for the day. Yet the pair wore placards around their necks, conspicuously drawing attention to themselves in a society that valued conformity above all. The sign upon Chung’s chest asked, “With what do you