Together with the museum architecture and the expert personnel, the collection of a museum forms the core of the museum, and it plainly tells the museum's past development, present status and future prospects. Influential museums of the world emphasize the importacnce of the setting-up of the area of concentration for their collection, of the practice of acquiring artworks and of the preservation and research of the collections in their mission statements. This clearly attests to that the collection of a museum is one of the most pivotal factors to determine the museum's stature.
Established in 1969, MOCA started to acquire artworks for its permanent collection in 1971. But the full-fledged collecting policies were not activated until its moving in 1986 to a new building in Gwacheon, a town in the suburbs of Seoul, where a modern-style collection storage facility was built. It has been forty years since MOCA's founding, and there is a vast difference in the quantity of artworks in the collection between MOCA and world-renowned museums, which boast their long flow of history during the past hundreds of years. Nevertheless, MOCA takes pride in that its collection is the most outstanding source through which one can look into the formation and development of modern and contemporary Korean art from the early 20th century to the present.
Currently, the collection of MOCA consists of 10 subcollections which are classified according to different mediums including painting, Korean traditional style painting, sculpture and photography. It has approximately 6,500 artworks (as of December, 2009) by artist not only form Korea and but from all over the world.
Located at the center of the museum, the Ramp Core is 13.8m in diameter and spirals upward to a height of 22.8 meters, in a
vast space lit by skylights. Viewed from above, it is clear that the Ramp Core is the centerpiece of the museum. It also plays
the role of a gateway as well as a connecting passageway to all galleries in the museum.
Visitors are greeted with “The more, the better” by artist Nam June Paik, which was installed at the center of the Ramp Core in
1988. 1,003 TVs, a number that was chosen to represent Korea’s National Foundation Day, October 3, are installed in a round
tower 18.5m high and 7.5m in diameter. This vast cone-shaped video tower is the first work of art that visitors see in the main
entrance hall, and each monitor can be individually appreciated by walking up and down the slope of the Ramp Core.
The Ramp Core, with its natural light from the ceiling and the illuminations from Nam June Paik’s “The more, the better”, is not
only a hallway that connects each gallery, but a beautiful exhibition space in itself
Surrounding the museum building, with the background of the beautiful landscape of Cheonggyesan(Mt.) and Kwanaksan(Mt.),
there is a 33,100 square meter Sculpture Garden spread out over green turf. Visitors can feel the unique atmosphere of each
season. The Sculpture Garden also plays the role of a multi-purpose complex in which events such as open-air concerts, danc-
ing performances, and poetry readings can be enjoyed.
Currently the sculpture garden exhibits more than 60 sculptures of both domestically and internationally renowned sculptors,
including Woo Hwan Lee, Seung Taek Lee, and Duk Jun Kwak from Korea, and Magdalena Abakanowicz, Tal Streeter, and
Mauro Staccioli.
The works of art in the sculpture garden can be enjoyed from various angles and on various backgrounds. The sculpture garden
provides a unique charm that visitors cannot experience through an indoor exhibition.
