Moon Jun-yong: "'Support Fund Application' Is a Must-Attend Tournament for Athletes"

Moon Jun-yong, media art artist and son of President Moon Jae-in. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] Moon Joon-yong, the son of President Moon Jae-in and an artist, said regarding the controversy over his selection for the art grant, "Telling me not to apply for the grant is like telling an athlete not to participate in a competition."

On the 23rd, Moon wrote on Facebook, "If I were an athlete, this was a competition I absolutely had to enter," adding, "This is why I applied for the grant despite the controversy."

He explained, "The work I do is experimental art, and experimental works generally do not sell well, so artists who do this kind of work usually receive production costs from national or public art museums or obtain grants like this to create their works. When applying, you submit a project plan, and at that time, my work is evaluated," he explained.

He continued, "Therefore, the grant is more important for the fact that you were selected than for the money itself," adding, "Unlike other fields, the competition for art grants is against other artists, and it is like winning a contest; you need to build such achievements to survive. Since experimental art cannot rely on sales records, accumulating selection records from grant programs is essential."

He then compared this to "sports without professional tournaments," saying, "In such sports, there are only competitions held by private organizations, associations, or the government, and athletes must win in those competitions. Similarly, artists regard art grants as contests."

Moon emphasized, "Receiving a grant is not the end like receiving prize money," adding, "You use it to produce work, and the selected works are evaluated under the attention of the art world. Those achievements lead to the next opportunities, and repeating this process is my profession."

He also addressed criticism questioning "why the grant must come from the government when there are private and public grants," saying, "This grant program is the largest scheduled in the industry this year, so skilled artists all paid attention, and if I were an athlete, this was a competition I absolutely had to enter."

Earlier, on the 18th, Moon himself announced on Facebook that he had been selected for the Korea Arts & Culture Education Service's 'Art and Technology Convergence Support Project' and would receive 69 million won.

However, opposition parties raised suspicions of favoritism in the selection process, and Moon responded, "Would they pick me if I had no skills just because I am the president's son?" denying any favoritism.

Meanwhile, Moon also received criticism from opposition parties last December when he was selected for the 'COVID-19 Emergency Art Support' project and received 14 million won from the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.