Once described as a melting pot, America has in recent years become more of a cultural mosaic, with people of various nationalities imprinting American culture with their own unique visions.

"Koreamericakorea," an exhibition celebrating the Korean-American part of this mosaic, opens today at Artsonje Center.

The show, which features the works of 11 artists, is the first major exhibition in Korea devoted exclusively to the works of Korean-Americans. Participating artists explore issues of self and society, possible pasts and futures, homes and homelands, and belonging in time and place, said Kim Sun-jung, curator of the Artsonje Center, who coordinated this exhibition with David Ross, director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Organized by the U.S. Embassy, American Chamber of Commerce in Korea and Artsonje Center, the exhibition aims to strengthen ties between Korea and the United States by celebrating the achievements of Korean-American visual artists, said Christine Bosworth, chairperson of the exhibition's steering committee and wife of U.S. ambassador James Bosworth.

"The title of this exhibition, 'Koreamericakorea,' alludes to a process that has defined the American experience since the country's birth," Mrs. Bosworth said. "It conjures the idea of a convergence of different traditions to form both a new nation and a new culture."

According to Kwon Mi-won, art professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, the absence of hyphens in the title indicates a continuous flow between the two cultures and countries.

"Compared to the static quality of the hyphenated designations, the title introduces a sense of movement and process, a new sense of fluidity," Kwon said. "The diminution and bracketing of 'America' by the 'Korea' at the beginning and at the end not only lessens the presence of America, it marks a temporal and spatial circling, an assertion of a return to origins for the artists." And this is exactly what the artists were trying to do in their works - explore Korea's heritage by capturing its many facets in photos, video presentations, paintings, statues and installations.

For example, painter Byron Kim, 39, presents a visual representation of the words of Korean poet Yun Dong-ju's poem "Sky, Wind, Stars and Poetry" in his work "Not Even One Spot of Shame."

On each side of a Korean screen or "byung-poong," Kim painted the day and night skies in acrylic watercolors on "hanji" or Korean paper.

The artist first read the poem two months ago, when he saw it inside the traditional Korean house on the grounds of Artsonje Center. Kim said he sympathized with the feelings of the author, who wrote many poems about the resistance to Japan's occupation of Korea.

"I was immediately impressed by the poet's ability to speak of political reality through a language of transcendence," Kim said. "I found great affinity with Yun's poem, as I also make works that portray specific subject matters, such as skin color, a childhood memory or a political event, by employing a language of transcendence."

Carole Kim, 39, attempted to test the limits of people's acceptance and also her own ability to relinquish control by doing an experiment - allowing "hair artists" to do whatever they liked with her hair every month for a year. After one week, she would shave her head and allow it to grow in for the next person.

Her unique hairstyles are presented in "PLUSH: a hair invitational," a video in which the artists are shown doing her hair.

Some of the hairstyles were difficult to wear outside the house - one artist made three islands on her shaved head by gluing a fisherman miniature, a road sign and a bonsai to her scalp.

"The impetus for embarking upon such a project came from finding myself in a more homogeneous environment when I moved to Portland, Maine," Kim said. "There are very few people of different ethnic backgrounds in Portland and when the occasional person would stare at me, I would experience this moment of recognition.

"I was curious about relinquishing control over my exterior identity," she said.

A combination of East and West can be found in Michael Joo's installation of sculptures titled "Headless," where the faces of famous Western cartoon characters hang above the sculptures of Buddha's bodies.

"This project engages ideas of figuration and portraiture," said Joo, 34. "Western notions of self, as expressed through manufactured toys, are combined with a stereotypically Eastern icon of aspired selflessness, in the form of a Buddha-like body."

Also on display are Shin Kyung-mi's "Papal Serenade," a wall paper pattern; Suh Do-ho's "Bridge," an investigation of notions of space in the form of a bridge made up of green plastic figures with their arms in the air; and Kang Ik-joong's "Enter the Heaven II," an installation which features rice statue of Bruce Lee doing martial arts.

Other featured artists are Iara Lee, Kim Soo-jin, Kwon So-won, Cha Hak-kyung and Min Yun-hee.

As satellite events, a symposium exploring the experience and significance of life as a Korean-American will be held today from 2 to 4 p.m. Panelists include Kwon Mi-won; Michael Joo; Laura Kang, professor of Women's Studies at the University of California, Irvine; and David Ross. A film titled "Modulations, Synthetic Pleasures" by Iara Lee will also be shown from June 23 to July 23.

The exhibition runs through Aug. 6. For more information, call 02-733-8940.   <Lee Jae-hee,reporter, Korea Herald >