National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul

mongsang_magazine

[National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul]

2014 Korea Architecture Culture Award
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Deep into life and daily life in one place.

It is the dream of many artists that art enters deeply into their daily lives, and for that dream, a place that can be easily accessed by the public is needed. A place where many people can gather, watch and walk, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, to be introduced today.

Architect Min Hyun-joon, who designed this museum, has two points to capture the story of the museum. First, it is an open art museum in everyday life. Large public art museums have the weakness of being inaccessible because they are located in the outskirts or in the mountains. As a result, the perception that an art museum is a place that should be visited on a special day or part of the day has arisen. For this reason, it takes a lot of time to visit an art museum that has been visited in particular because it is easy to get tired of visiting because it is visited here and there without the words rest and leisure. Architect Min Hyun-joon, who understood this, wanted the art museum to be a place where people could take a break and visit, like a mart or a cafe. In fact, it is an open structure without a single fence, and it is an alley that crosses the yard and the site.

The second characteristic is that many of the existing art museums plan the movement route and design the movement route to view the exhibitions along the route. However, this museum is an archipelago-type museum, and the exhibition spaces are randomly arranged. Archipelago is a term used to refer to islands in the sea, meaning that the island and the sea exist independently. In fact, there are not just one or two routes to enjoy viewing, but many routes like a net. Thanks to this, it does not stop at simply looking at a work of art, but induces concentration between the artist and the viewer.
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The core of this building is the exterior space. It has 6 large courtyards. Another characteristic is found through these six courtyards. Its characteristic is that it can enter without borders from any direction. When I found this place, I was like, "Can I go in here?" entered with a heart. After walking in and looking around for a bit, I found another entrance and felt a sense of openness myself. When I entered the yard, there were so many people moving freely. It was a scenery that I could not easily feel in any art museum. There were no restrictions on conversation and it didn't matter who did anything.
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This building is a building that embraces tradition, modernity, and modernity. In front of the museum, Jongchindang, visible on the opaque glass window, and Gyeongbokgung Palace across from it, and the red bricks right next to the refined terra cotta, spanned the ages.

A lot of people gathered here in the yard. Families could come and play with their children without notice, the elderly relaxed and enjoying the scenery, sitting in the shade and talking, and the young people were taking pictures with the beauty in the background and enjoying the culture in reality.

We divide generations into each other according to the year we were born, draw a line, and hide the characteristics. Although the way of enjoying the outdoor space, that is, the yard, may be a little different, I was grateful that they were gathering in one place and spending their time in their own way.

The process of becoming an adult from a child to an adult is different for everyone. However, the feeling of being the last to reach the end will never be different for everyone.

I hope the world doesn't cry out that we're wrong because the process of living is different. Acknowledging the sameness and respecting the differences is how we can reconcile our generational differences.

location
- National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, 30 Samcheong-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul

Information Use
・Viewing time
-10:00~18:00 Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri/Sun
-10:00~21:00 Wed/Sat (Open 18:00~21:00 at night)
*Closed on January 1, Lunar New Year’s Day, and Chuseok
*The last Wednesday of every month is free on cultural days.

Permanent exhibition: Free / Special exhibition: Variable
Currently [2022.3.21.] Standard exhibition
- 2021.12.11.~2022.04.17. Ai Weiwei Human Future
- 2021.07.21.~202.04.13 MMCA Kunhee Kunhee Collection Special Exhibition Korean Art Masterpieces

I have captured my gaze and feelings in photos. We will provide new information to those who visit, a new feeling to those who have visited, and a trip for those who are difficult to visit.

So, I hope you all have a pleasant journey.