K-Pop, including BTS, is currently a global phenomenon. However, this popularity is more than just popularity. Through this seismograph of popularity, we can read deep-seated socio-cultural changes and shifting Zeitgeist. In this talk, I will illustrate these changes by focusing on the new art form born out of the current media environment. Changes in technology, including media, lead to changes in art forms, and in my book BTS, Art Revolution, I call Network-Image, a new art form created by the current media environment where mobile networks have become the default for everyday life. A crucial part of this new art form is the active participation of the spectator, which in turn changes the scope of the artwork, the relationship between art producers and recipients, the concept of the artist, and the power structure of the art world. As we have witnessed from BTS phenomenon, the changes brought about in art are not limited to art. Changes in art form are accompanied by changes in art recipients. They are not abstract beings that exist only in the art field, but concrete people living in this era. Thus, their participation in art leads to their participation in other social and political issues, such as, environmental issues, gender issues and racism. This is what we see in the activities of the fandom ARMY that forms the BTS phenomenon.

Keywords: Network-Image, BTS, Walter Benjamin, Participation of the Spectator

Bibliographical References: 

Lee, Jiyoung, BTS Art Revolution, Parrhesia, 2019

Benjamin, Walter, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” in Illuminations edited by Hannah Arendt, Mariner Books Classics, 2019.

Deleuze, Gilles, Cinéma 1 & 2, Les Éditions de Minuit, 1983 & 1985