"Are Adult Nightclubs Deviance or Resistance?"...History Museum Colloquium on the 25th

Jang Segil Analyzes Nightlife Culture of the 2000s
Examining Nightclubs as a Space of Liberation for People in Their 30s and 40s after the IMF Crisis

The National Museum of Korean Contemporary History will hold the "2nd Modern and Contemporary History Colloquium" at 2:00 p.m. on the 6th floor, Lecture Room 2 of the museum, on February 25. The event will shed social and cultural light on "adult nightclubs," which were a symbol of Korea's nightlife culture in the early 2000s.

Senior Research Fellow Jang Segil of the Jeonbuk Institute, who will serve as presenter, will release materials he collected firsthand in the field between 2002 and 2003. His presentation is titled "Carnival of Everyday Life: Adult Nightclubs, on the Boundary Between Deviance and Resistance."

Jang will analyze the dual nature of nightclubs, which functioned as a space of liberation for people in their 30s and 40s, against the backdrop of the time, including the overcoming of the IMF economic crisis and the introduction of the five-day workweek. In particular, he will examine the patriarchal order and capitalist desires embedded in the "booking (instant blind-date)" culture, as well as the meaning of deviance and resistance in response to them.

Han Soo, Director of the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History, said, "We plan not only to look back on past entertainment culture, but also to use this as an opportunity to reflect on the structure of individualized desires today."

The event is open to everyone and can be attended freely without prior registration.