Pyobaek (Bleached) Visibility: Queer Representation in South Korean Public Museums

Diplôme Master Pyobaek (Bleached) Visibility: Queer Representation in South Korean Public Museums eng 2026-07-10 author Park Sooyeon 989190 director Larsen Peter Bille 0000-0002-8908-1788 558059 Service enseignement, recherche, administratif et technique (SdS) (SCSPS) 75 This thesis examines how sexual minorities are represented and included in South Korean public art museums, and what these practices reveal about institutional recognition, cultural sustainability, and social justice. Theoretically anchored in Judith Butler's theory of performativity and recognizability, Nancy Fraser’s redistribution, recognition, and representation, Sara Ahmed’s critique of institutional diversity, and Pierre Bourdieu’s account of symbolic power, the research argues that museum inclusion cannot be evaluated simply by counting exhibitions or listing queer themes. Instead, the key question is how museums define which queer lives are recognizable, administratively manageable, and publicly defensible, and through which legal, organizational, and discursive procedures these boundaries are drawn. The research is based on a qualitative case study methodology focused on metropolitan public art museums in South Korea. Fieldwork conducted from July to August 2025 integrated documentary analysis with fifteen semi-structured interviews involving curators, archivists, queer artists, and art critics. The analysis contextualizes interview materials within the broader context of Korea’s incomplete anti-discrimination legislation, public museum governance structures, evaluation systems, and civil petition processes, alongside the historical trajectory of queer politics and public discourse on sexual minorities. The findings indicate that museums function under a complex legal-administrative risk environment, where the appointment of directors, performance metrics, and accountability driven by complaints promote what practitioners refer to as “cautious” or “conditional” forms of inclusion. Symbolic visibility for sexual minorities is often displayed through family-oriented narratives, content warnings, and spatial marginalization. The thesis terms this pyobaek (bleached) visibility, a process in which queer content is admitted but its political, historical, and bodily specificity is often washed out, leaving only an aestheticized presence the institution can promote as diversity. Pyobaek is neither outright exclusion nor full recognition but an in-between condition, the museum’s characteristic response to what the thesis calls the fragmented matrix, in which the legal, political, and cultural norms governing queer life no longer align. Although national and municipal museums increasingly embrace diversity language and acknowledge global standards, these commitments often function as non-performative speech acts that reinforce institutional self-image without actually reallocating resources, authority, or decision-making power to queer communities. The thesis emphasizes the significance of counterpublic spaces, including community-driven queer archives and independent art initiatives, which gather alternative collections, terminologies, and interpretive frameworks from the periphery. These places not only safeguard fragile sexual minority cultural production but also reveal the systemic limitations of museum-centric approaches to minority justice. The thesis concludes that sustainable queer cultural futures in South Korea require a reevaluation of public museum governance, assessment, and civil petition frameworks, enabling sexual minorities to engage as equal stakeholders in determining legitimate heritage and the experiences that constitute the public memory that museums claim to preserve and represent. Korean public museums Sexual minority representation Queer visibility Pyobaek visibility Performative inclusion Affirmative recognition Counterpublic infrastructure Cultural sustainability SDG 5 SDG 10 SDG 11 SDG 16 Dewey 354.3 MIHDS Master in Innovation, Human Development and Sustainability 199 Institut de la gouvernance de l'environnement et du développement territorial TF false 513e1ba8-fbf9-4c64-8e24-071760b6859d Master thesis Restricted MIHDS_Master_Thesis_Sooyeon_PARK.pdf 1569271 application/pdf Private 2026-12-31 eaf46c8d7044f9c6e87557cede0f4c33a3b7aeb274e3fc41fef5858bff2c7d07 embargoedAccess Faculté des sciences de la société / Institut de la gouvernance de l'environnement et du développement territorial

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Park, Sooyeon