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Art Museum Journey in Seoul
By Kim Sun-woo, Tribune Reporter
Are you interested in the arts? On November 5th to 6th, this reporter, majoring in an art-related field, took a tour of four renowned art museums in Seoul. On the bus going to Seoul, I was so excited, since it was a unique opportunity to visit Leeum Samsung Museum, which is one of my favorite museums. Filled with expectations about famous art museums, I obtained some useful tips from a more senior student about how to enjoy and appreciate art museums.
Having much interest in modern media arts, I enjoyed visiting the Seoul Museum of Art, which holds the Seoul International Media Art Biennale under the theme of trust. It represents a close examination of the relationship between the media and people living in today’s global community. The piece that impressed me the most was a collection of art by an artists’ group, Xijing Men, composed of three artists from China, Korea, and Japan. The collection presents various artworks from three Asian cultures for the hope of creating a utopian space. They recounted stories about society, politics, economics, culture and the Xijing Men’s own personal history. Another impressive piece was Orange, which was co-produced by two Dutch artists, Jereon de Rijke and Willem DE ROOIJ. This piece continuously shows 80 images of the color orange, during which time, the viewer discovers subtle color changes in each image. This color was implying the country’s nationalism and the significance therein. By looking at the art pieces in the Art Biennale, I noticed that they were trying to represent an era of strong self-expressionism.
I also visited Leeum Samsung Museum of Art, which is holding a special exhibition named Memories of the Future. Produced by six Korean and five international artists, this exhibition addresses diverse tendencies in contemporary art. In addition, this exhibition was attempting to define art and expand the space of art both inside and outside the museum. Louis Bourgeois’ Mother, a giant spider in front of the museum, was a representative piece of expanding the notion of artistic space. The overwhelmingly huge spider with thin legs represents the self-identity of motherhood. My favorite one was Demian Hirst’s Dance of Death, which shows about 27,000 pills on the shelf indicating death. This museum was the one I most looked forward to visiting, so I found all of the architectures and atmosphere so luxurious.
Besides the above mentioned museums, I had also visited two other art museums: the Nam June Paik Art Center and the National Museum of Korea. I enjoyed seeing many famous art pieces there, and I was also impressed with the modern architecture and lavish atmosphere. Although travelling from Gwangju to Seoul took a very long time and was boring, visiting the art museums that I couldn’t ordinarily visit was an invigorating experience and remains a happy memory for me. CNUians! Why not visit art museums?
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