The first Exhibition of National Museum of Contemporary Art at Its Future Museum Site in Kimusa
The National Museum of Contemporary Art (Director, Soon-Hoon BAE) is opening an exhibition titled "Beginning of New Era" at the future site of the Seoul Museum of Contemporary Art. This exhibition includes artists of different genres and generations, ranging from famous senior artists to talented young artists; from fine artists and architects to designers, craftspeople, and film directors. This eclectic mix indicates that future artworks and cultural events that will be hosted in this space will be fresh and fun. Moreover, we expect exchanges and communication among different generations and genres throughout the arts to develop organically, as a result. This exhibition is divided into three sections, designated as the Art Museum Project, the Space Transformation Project, and the Documentary Project.
The Art Museum Project will be held at the main building (the future site of Seoul Museum of Contemporary Art). The National Museum of Contemporary Art celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, and has prepared an exhibition that draws from its permanent collection. Artists in the exhibition were asked to select artworks from the collection, and then to create art with a consideration of the chosen piece in mind. The newly created works could show the artists’ admiration or criticism of the works from the collection, or they might appropriate the techniques, content, or subject matter for the new work.
This project brings various techniques and approaches to contemporary art into one exhibition. Organized according to their characteristics, the body of work is divided into three parts. The first part is “Museum & Art,” and shows the strength of contemporary Korean art. The second is “Museum & Society,” which focuses on the social relevance of art; and the third is “Museum & Vision,” which shows the future of art as envisioned by the artsits. This section of the exhibition includes Seo-Bo PARK (painting), Moon Seop SHIM (sculpture), Soocheon JHEON (installation), Hong-Goo KANG (photography), Geun-Taek YOO (Asian painting/ animation), Soo Jeong KIM (design), and Hoon MOON (architecture).
The Space Transformation Project will be held inside and outside of the former Defense and Security Complex (main building, basement, cafeteria, library, and surrounding space). It anticipates the transformation of the former Kimusa site born into an art museum. The participating artists include: Kyuchul AHN, Jeong Hwa CHOI, Ok-Sang LIM, and U-Ram CHOE.
The Documentary Project participants include Kyungwon MOON, the video artist, and Dong-Hyun PARK, the experimental film director. They examined the images of Kimusa that people have in their minds, and unfolded them in documentary format.
For the opening performance, Yong Baek LEE’s Angel-Soldier will take place in the auditorium. For this performance, 100 volunteers wearing flower-patterned military uniforms will move like soldiers against a background of contemporary music. After the opening performance, the 100 uniforms will be displayed on the stage, each bearing the name of a famous person. Starting at 2 pm on November 7th (Saturday), Busy Bee Works (a collective of 6 artists) will lead visitors in a participatory workshop, and invite the participants to draw the paths that they followed to come to the exhibition, in a group workshop. Also prepared are a classical Korean traditional music concert and a new gukak (Korean traditional music) concert. Docent-guided tours are provided at 10:30, 12:30, 14:30, and 16:30 on weekdays, and during the weekend (Fri, Sat, and Sun), an extra tour at 18:30 is added. This exhibition goes until December 6th, and is free and open to the public.
For more information, please visit the National Museum of Contemporary Art homepage http://seoul.moca.go.kr/ or call (02)2188-6000.
