the 2017 Exhibition Program and Major Projects for the
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA).
Overview of Exhibitions Planned for 2017
In planning its upcoming exhibitions, MMCA has focused on the integration of its three venues through specific themes within the global context. MMCA Gwacheon will focus on the history of Korean contemporary art; MMCA Deoksugung will dedicate itself to interrogate modernity and Korean modern art; MMCA Seoul is to specialize in the innovations within Korean and International contemporary art, with a special attention to multi-disciplinary languages, and site-specific commissions. Furthermore, to expand its international and Asian network, and to form an axis that connects tradition and modernity with the contemporary in art history, MMCA has initiated exhibitions and projects in collaboration with diverse international art museums.
Summary of Exhibitions Planned for 2017
Note: The information below is for reference only. Comprehensive press information will be provided in advance of each exhibition.
■ Other Modernities Diverging from canonical explorations of modern and contemporary art, which focus too persistently on the Western criteria and vocabularies, MMCA will actively emphasize and investigate non-Western developments of art, to actively contribute to write new pages of art history in the present. Under these thematic lines, diverse exhibitions, publications and public programs will be executed.
Abdel Hadi El Gazzar, Peace, 1965, Oil on board, 80x170cm, Museum of Modern Egyptian Art Collection
When Art Becomes Liberty: The Egyptian Surrealists (1938-1965)
○ Date: April – July 2017
○ Venue: MMCA Deoksugung
When Art Becomes Liberty: The Egyptian Surrealists (1938–1965) chronicles the eclosion of a solid and exceptional movement, a central chapter in Egyptian modernity that spanned the late 1930s to the early 1960s. The exhibit examines the history and development of the movement and its links to the larger international surrealist movement through the anti-fascist, anti-colonial movements. Approximately 150 items will be on display, including paintings, photos, and archival material, a large number of which have never before been seen by audiences outside of Egypt. Organized by MMCA in coordination with Sharjah Art Foundation, the Ministry of Culture in Egypt, and the American University in Cairo (AUC), this exhibition offers a non-Western perspective on the diverse aspects of the modern era and the interconnectedness of the global community in the twentieth century.
Lee Yootae, Research, 1944, Color on paper, 212x153cm, MMCA Collection
New Woman
○ Date: October 2017 – March 2018
○ Venue: MMCA Deoksugung
Modernity is both an experience and a discourse, a complex tangle of contradiction, conflict, chance, and discontinuity that defies any single definition. This exhibition examines the myriad elements of modernity in Korea (tradition/newness, nature/civilization, modernization as Westernization, imperialism, colonialism, urbanization, public and private spheres, consumerism) as they intersect in the person of the woman. In this context, the New Woman, described as “an indeterminate woman, neither gisaeng (courtesan) nor schoolgirl,” having taken form in the process of selecting, excluding, translating, and imitating that took place vis-à-vis the newly adopted Western and Japanese cultures in the early 20th Century, possesses all of the characteristics of a complicated and inconclusive modernity. The figure of the New Woman was nestled deep within the daily life experiences, images, discourses, and narratives of colonial modernity. Thus this exhibition examines not only modernist art but all the forms of popular culture at the time, from fashion, films, and pop music to tourism and magazines.
■ Art, Architecture, Design, Cinema,…Highlighting the multidimensional and interdisciplinary nature of contemporary art, MMCA will present exhibitions featuring innovative integration of diverse fields, such as architecture, design, film, etc.
The Principle of Uncertainty
○ Date: May – October 2017
○ Venue: Gallery 6 in MMCA Seoul
This exhibition features works by artists who pose fundamental questions about the value and meaning of art through the process of reconfiguring public truth and personal memories. These are artists gaining prominence worldwide: Walid Raad of Lebanon, Ho Tzu Nyen of Singapore, Zachary Formwalt of the Netherlands, and the young Korean artist Hayoun Kwon. By “reprocessing” their individual memories and materials, they reveal hidden sides of the uncertain world through which they pass.
Krzysztof Wodiczko
○ Date: July – October 2017
○ Venue: Gallery 5 in MMCA Seoul
This retrospective exhibition will present artworks from the 40-year career of Polish artist Krzysztof Wodiczko, renowned for projecting the voice of social minorities in the public space and thus providing a public image to those who are not visible. Wodiczko’s work is pioneer in using the potentials of urban contexts, public space, monuments and singular buildings to articulate the needs of dialogue and debate among social actors. The exhibition deepens our understanding of the relationship between society and art and will include works specifically created for this occasion.
Papers and Concrete: Modern Architecture in Korea 1987-1997
○ Date: September 2017 – April 2018
○ Venue: Gallery 3, 4 in MMCA Seoul
Papers and Concrete: Modern Architecture in Korea 1987-1997 explores the forces that have shaped and driven the modern Korean architectural discourse. It looks at the architectural groups active between 1987 and 1997, during the socially and culturally turbulent decade leading up to the Asian Financial Crisis, and the media produced during this period. It is a retrospective concerned less with the works created and the individual architects and more with the movements that enabled the social practice of architecture, aesthetic achievements in the field, and changes in architectural education. Featuring archival materials never released before, this exhibition is conceived to serve as a record of the history of modern Korean architecture and a starting point for future research on Korean architectural movements. An academic symposium and other programs will also be organized, in conjunction with the exhibition and international architecture-related events set to take place around the same time, including the Union of International Architects Seoul Congress and the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism.
Jonas Mekas: Fragments of Eternity
○ Date: November 2017 – March 2018
○ Venue: Gallery 6 in MMCA Seoul
Jonas Mekas, the great master of avant-garde experimental cinema, pioneered a methodology of film specific to the medium, the film diary, in which the instantaneous flickers and abstract energy captured by cinematic apparatus are relayed through film. Since having played a leading role in the burgeoning of experimental cinema in the ’60s, Mekas has continued to record ordinary moments of everyday life as cinematic moments. For him, the moments of life are thus the moments of cinematic creation. This exhibition features a selection from his over sixty films, forty videos, and numerous installations (produced since the 2000s), as well as archival materials like Film Culture magazine, which he co-launched, various writings, and photographs. The exhibition space is a mosaic of images that come and go in an undulating poetic rhythm. Jonas Mekas: Fragments of Eternity traces Mekas’s personal history back to his emigration from Lithuania to the United States during what would become a revolutionary chapter in the underground cultural movement.
■ Modern & Contemporary Masters Through major exhibitions of leading artists who have significantly impacted the history of contemporary art, MMCA surveys the individual output and development of the featured artists, while investigating myriad issues related to art and public society in contemporary times.
Richard Hamilton, Swingeing London 67(f), 1968-9, Screen print on canvas, acrylic and collage, 67x85cm, Tate Collection
Richard Hamilton
○ Date: November 2017 – January 2018
○ Venue: MMCA Gwacheon
As one of the pioneers and leaders of British pop art, Richard Hamilton (1922-2011) helped to reshape the public consciousness by introducing new styles and images in the post-war period. Hamilton was particularly concerned with examining the role of images in generating human expectation, consumption, and desire. This exhibition—the first retrospective of Hamilton ever to be held in Asia—is being presented within the context of the Korea-UK Year (2017/2018).
■ Site-specific Productions
Young Architects Program 2017
○ Date: June – October 2017
○ Venue: Courtyard and Gallery 8 in MMCA Seoul
Jointly presented by MMCA and the Museum of Modern Art New York (MoMA), with the support of Hyundai Card, the Young Architects Program 2017 is a competition of up-and-coming Korean architects. The selected project will be installed in the museum’s courtyard, while works by the finalists will be presented in Gallery 8 along with the proposals of the winners and finalists from other YAP International partner institutions including MoMA, MAXXI and Constructo in Santiago.
The Deoksugung Project 2017
○ Date: September – November 2017
○ Venue: MMCA Deoksugung
In 2017, MMCA will reintroduce a type of exhibition first implemented in 2012, wherein artists are invited to conceive and produce artworks in diverse indoor and outdoor locations of Deoksugung Palace. The project seeks to reinterpret the history and cultural heritage of Modern Korea through the tensions and harmonies between architecture and contemporary art.
Korea Artist Prize 2017
○ Date: September 2017 – February 2018
○ Venue: Gallery 1, 2 in MMCA Seoul
The Korea Artist Prize is an annual program and exhibit organized by the MMCA to work with Korean artists with a drive to experiment and the potential to make significant contributions to their field. Four artists or teams of artists are selected in the first round of evaluations and receive KRW 40 million in funding for their participation in the Korea Artist Prize exhibition. Following the exhibition, a second round of evaluations is held to select the winner of the Korea Artist Prize. The winning artist or team of artists receives an additional KRW 10 million and is featured in a specially produced documentary. Five local and international art professionals of great renown will adjudicate the 2017 Korea Artist Prize, and their names as well as the names of the artists selected in the first round will be announced in the spring. The Korean Artist Prize is supported by the SBS Cultural Foundation.
MMCA Hyundai Motor series 2017: Lim Heung-soon
○ Date: November 2017 – June 2018
○ Venue: Gallery 5, corridor, movie theater in MMCA Seoul
The MMCA Hyundai Motor series is an annual exhibition to stimulate consolidated Korean artists to produce exceptional works of art. In 2017, the featured artist will be Lim Heung-soon (b. 1969), the winner of the Silver Lion at the 56th Venice Biennale (2015). Mr. Lim will develop a specific new work that will be presented at MMCA at the end of 2017.
Outdoor project series at MMCA Gwacheon
○ Date: During 2017
○ Venue: Seoul Grand Park, MMCA sculpture park and rooftop of MMCA
MMCA will enhance a series of outdoor productions at the Gwacheon venue, aimed at accentuating the museum’s unique natural environment. For these productions, renowned Korean artist, Koo Jeong-A and another international artist will be invited to create site-specific works.
■ MMCA Collections and Research on Korean Art History MMCA Gwacheon and MMCA Seoul will hold various thematic exhibitions based on research on the MMCA collections, including one long-term exhibition to be presented for an entire year. The Gwacheon branch will host a permanent exhibition on research of Korean contemporary art within its space that is dedicated to donations.
New Acquisitions 2013-16 Samramansang: from KIM Whanki to YANG Fodong
○ Date: March – August 2018
○ Venue: Gallery 1,2,3,4,5 in MMCA Seoul
New Acquisitions 2013-16 Samramansang: from KIM Whanki to YANG Fodong presents works acquired by MMCA from 2013 to 2016. As a public institution, MMCA has been endowed with the mission of forming, conserving, researching, showcasing and writing the history of modern and contemporary Korean art, providing the Korean society with opportunities to appreciate it. To this end, MMCA adopts mid- to long-term and annual plans for the systematic acquisition of new works, which are presented to the public through exhibitions, catalogues, and the Internet. New Acquisitions 2013–2016 Samramansang: from KIM Whanki to YANG Fodong features a diverse selection of approximately a hundred of the 932 works acquired over the last four years. Thus richly reflective of Korean art history, this exhibition invites analysis of historical progression and change as well as closer attention to where we might be headed.
Collection Highlights: “CRACKS in the Concrete”
○ Date: April 2017 – April 2018
○ Venue: Gallery 3 & 4 in MMCA, Gwacheon
Featuring works from the MMCA collection, Collection Highlights: offers a new perspective on the history of post-twentieth-century Korean art. The word “cracks” in the exhibition title is symbolic of the bold resolve and attitude of the successive generations of artists who challenged entrenched power and the imposed order, seeking continual transformation and pursuing “the new.” In order to “crack” existing systems and ways of thinking into fracturing and fragmenting, these artists have employed key strategies: relentlessly questioning the old, penetrating beyond the surface, making the familiar unfamiliar, and exposing what lies hidden. This exhibition will usher visitors into a new experience of the experimental works of art, diverse in form and genre, produced by post-twentieth-century Korean artists in the course of confronting the social, cultural, and historical currents of their times.
Layers and Spaces : Prints from MMCA Collections
○ Date: September – March 2018
○ Venue: Gallery 5, 6 in MMCA Gwacheon
Consisting mainly of works from the MMCA print collection, Layers and Spaces: Prints from MMCA Collections provides an in-depth look at the history of prints in Korean modern art, from their emergence in the 1950s to the present day, focusing on the spectrum of ideas that were central to the genre, including multiplicity, popular relevance, and replicability. In addition to the definitive works of pioneers of Korean modern prints, including Lee Hang-sung, Yu Kang-yul, and Jeong Gyu, the exhibition will feature works by contemporary artists active in printmaking, shedding light on the place of this oldest genre of art in the landscape of contemporary Korean art.
■ Korean Contemporary Artists Series Held since 2014, the Korean Contemporary Artist series examines the work of consolidated Korean artists from the fields of painting, engraving, sculpture, crafts, photography, and architecture. In 2017, the four-featured exhibitions will be Song Burn-soo (crafts), Shim Moon-seup (sculpture), Yoon Seung-joong (architecture), and Han Chung-shik (photography). The selection committee, which was formed by external experts, selected 23 artists in 6 genres throughout the Korean contemporary art in 2013.
Song Burn-soo_Pantomime of 50years
○ Date: March – June 2017
○ Venue: Gallery 1, Main Hall in MMCA Gwacheon
This exhibition presents engravings, tapestries, installations, and other works created by Song Burn-soo (b. 1943) over the past fifty years. Merging various subjects and genres, Song Burn-soo attempts to creatively enunciate unspoken messages about nature, society, and religion based on his own life experience.
Yoon Seung-joong
○ Date: April – August 2017
○ Venue: Gallery 5 in MMCA Gwacheon
Architect Yoon Seung-joong (b. 1937) is considered a living witness to the history of Korean modern architecture. Unlike other major modernist architects Kim Jong-sung and Kim Tai-soo, Yoon completed his studies in Korea. He introduced an “architecture of logic” and was the first in the field to emphasize team projects and partnership. Yoon is one of few people to have observed firsthand and also been actively involved in the progression of Korean modern architecture from the 1960s to the present day. An exhibit exploring Yoon’s oeuvre will be held at MMCA Gwacheon.
Han Jeong-sik
○ Date: April – August 2017
○ Venue: Gallery 6 in MMCA Gwacheon
Since the 1960s, when realist photography became prevalent, Han Jeong-sik (b. 1937) has sought to expand the aesthetic scope of Korean photography through his focus on formalism and methodology. Featuring works from throughout Han’s prolonged career of more than fifty years, this exhibition unveils the distinctive vision of this major artist while tracing the development and aesthetics of Korean modern photography.
Shim Moon-sup, Metaphor, 1995, Wood and steel, Size variable, Courtesy of the artist
Shim Moon-sup
○ Date: July – October 2017
○ Venue: Gallery 1, 2, Center Hall in MMCA Gwacheon
Since making his international debut at the Paris Biennales from 1971 to 1975, Shim Moon-sup (b. 1943) has remained one of the representative figures of Korean sculpture to this day. Tracing the trajectory of this exemplary artist, this retrospective will also demonstrate how overall interests in sculptural materials have changed and developed in Korean art since the 1970s.
■ Asian and International Perspectives Over the next years, MMCA will develop international exhibitions which will focus on locating Korean art in the “global conversation”. Regional internationalism must come before globalization. By highlighting the role of Korean art within the Asian context, these major group exhibitions will seek to form an axis linking tradition, modernity, and the contemporary.
Lesson Zero
○ Date: March – June 2017
○ Venue: Gallery 2 in MMCA Gwacheon
This international group exhibition questions the values constructed by the acts of learning and teaching. It is also related with how individuality is constructed in this society through the experience we all share as we internalize a discipline. Using humor, parody, and wit, as well as poetic and documentary approaches, the exhibited works engage with the complex dynamics of instruction and the situations of learning and teaching.
Kim Sung Whan, Temper clay, 2012, Video installation, 23min 41sec, Courtesy of the artist and Wilkinson Gallery
Performing History
○ Date: September 2017 – January 2018
○ Venue: Circular Gallery 1 in MMCA Gwacheon
The human body is the site of our closest, most immediate contact with the world and interaction with other people. The exhibition Performing History, which features videos, photographs, and performances from the 1960s to the present, looks at examples of the social “performativity”, with special attention to how the gestures of the body come to convey social, historical, and cultural contexts and concerns. Included is a work in which the body reconstructs the collective memories of a given culture; a performance that probes the boundaries between the self and the other and between the body and the environment; and a work that expresses through bodily gestures the ideologies implicit in daily actions. Photos, video footage, and performances are used to recreate works in which the body “performs” social solidarity and community, or in which performances are staged as responses to the problems affecting modern societies as a result of globalism.
