National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art 'Museum for Everyone, Museum for Dogs' Exhibition View [Photo by National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art]
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) will first unveil the exhibition "Museum for All, Museum for Dogs," where visitors can view the exhibition together with their pet dogs, online through its YouTube channel on the 25th.
This exhibition invites dogs, as companion animals and members of the family and community, as visitors to question the meaning of companionship in modern society, the openness and public nature of museums, and the definition of public spaces.
In Korea, about 30% of all households live with companion animals, and spaces and places where animals and humans can enjoy together are gradually expanding. "Museum for All, Museum for Dogs" attempts to explore how far the scope of "all" that museums aim for can be extended amid these changes. During the exhibition period, part of the museum space will become a space shared by dogs and their families, questioning whether companion animals can be recognized as family members and social members even in public places. Furthermore, it experiments with how far museums, which have been constructed centered on humans, can consider non-human beings.
To realize a space of openness and hospitality for dogs, experts from various fields such as veterinarians, landscape architects, architects, and legal scholars participated in this exhibition.
"Museum for All, Museum for Dogs" is divided into three parts?exhibition, performance, and screening?based on themes such as "Anthropocene - Plaza," "Painful Companionship," "Precious Otherness," "Becoming Together," "Natural Culture," and "Umwelt (meaning a self-centered world)."
The exhibition features 20 works including installations, sculptures, and animations, including seven new works by 13 participating artists (teams). These include Jeong Yeon-du’s "Togo and Balto - The Hero Dogs Who Saved Humanity," which offers a different perspective on the story of sled dogs who saved children from an epidemic; Kim Yong-kwan’s "Know This, I Am Big and Not Dangerous," which created tools considering the vision of dogs with red-green color blindness; Sculpture Scout’s "Dog’s Dream," which imagines a future forest for dogs by installing sculptures similar to dog agility equipment in the museum yard; architect Kim Kyung-jae’s space created for dogs, "Near Future, How to Use Someone Else’s Living Room"; and landscape architect Yoo Seung-jong’s "Forest for All," which boldly brings plants and nature into the exhibition hall.
Exhibition view of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art's 'Museum for Everyone, Museum for Dogs' Photo by National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art
Performances include four new works: Kim Jeong-seon x Kim Jae-ri’s "Body Landscape," which attempts to become something other than human-centered; Nam Hwa-yeon’s "Curious Child," a walk with the companion robot Aibo and the museum; Diana Band’s "Surrounded by the Forest," where multiple IoT devices exchange sounds listened to by dogs and humans together; and Yang Achi’s "Changgyeongwon 昌慶苑," a performance with companion parrots and humans. Additionally, Park Bo-na’s "Box in a Bag," which provides dinner ingredients to visitors and their companion animals, will be held.
The screening program titled "Dog, Snail, and Blue" will present three films. Derek Jarman’s "Blue" (1993), composed entirely of a single color (International Klein Blue, IKB 79), a single shot, voice-over, and soundtrack; Anri Sala’s "Necessary and Sufficient Condition" (2018), observing the moment when a snail and a viola player mutually influence each other centered on the viola bow; and Jean-Luc Godard’s "Goodbye to Language" (2014), which speaks about saying farewell to the pain of the blind human world through the eyes of the director’s pet dog Roxy.
The exhibition catalog, pre-published in June, includes writings by researchers, critics, veterinarians, novelists, and legal scholars, as well as information related to companion animals. It supports the exhibition theme through diverse fields such as art, sociology, veterinary medicine, and law.
Due to the extension of social distancing level 2 in the metropolitan area, the museum remains closed, but "Museum for All, Museum for Dogs" can be first experienced online through the YouTube channel at 4 p.m. on the 25th. The exhibition includes curator Seong Yong-hee’s explanation, interviews with participating artists, and footage of the artists’ dogs visiting the exhibition space. The exhibition runs until October 25.
Yoon Bum-mo, director of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, stated, "I hope this becomes an opportunity to lead new discourse on the function and role of museums by welcoming 'companion dogs,' who have never visited museums before, as new visitors."
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