The First Public Museum in the Southwest Region, ‘G Valley Industry Museum,’ Established to Commemorate Guro Industrial Complex History and Preserve Industrial Heritage
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 7th, it was announced that Seoul’s first industrial museum, the Seoul Metropolitan ‘G Valley Industrial Museum (MUSEUM G),’ will be established on the site of the old Guro Water Purification Plant, which supplied domestic and industrial water to the old Guro Industrial Complex area since 1964. This is the first public museum to be created in the southwestern region, which has relatively few cultural facilities.
‘G Valley Industrial Museum (MUSEUM G)’ is a space that holds over half a century of history from the 1960s Guro Industrial Complex to the 21st-century G Valley. It collects, preserves, and exhibits industrial heritage to commemorate the history of the Guro Industrial Complex and preserve Seoul’s industrial heritage. Additionally, it offers a new museum experience where visitors can engage with future industries through 3D and interactive content.
Seoul City received the donation of two floors (3rd and 9th floors) of ‘G Tower (formerly G-Square),’ developed through the redevelopment project of the old Guro Water Purification Plant site by the Korea Industrial Complex Corporation and Netmarble Games, and established the ‘G Valley Industrial Museum (MUSEUM G)’ with a total floor area of 2,640㎡.
On the 3rd floor of ‘G Valley Industrial Museum (MUSEUM G),’ there are permanent exhibition rooms, special exhibition rooms, a media library, and a memorial room for the Guro Water Purification Plant. The 9th floor support facilities include classrooms, conference rooms, and offices.
Starting from the 11th, Seoul City will open the exhibition space of ‘G Valley Industrial Museum (MUSEUM G)’ in advance to welcome visitors. It will operate from Tuesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is free. During the pre-opening period, three spaces on the 3rd floor exhibition facilities?▲Permanent Exhibition Room ▲Special Exhibition Room ▲Media Library?will be open to the public.
In the permanent exhibition room, a permanent exhibition titled ‘From Guro Industrial Complex to G Valley’ will be presented. Spanning four zones, visitors can explore the industrial history of Seoul from the establishment of the Guro Industrial Complex in the 1960s to the 21st-century G Valley. The space reconfigures the 1st Korea Trade Fair, the country’s first export trade fair (Zone 1), and exhibits industrial heritage familiar to the 50s and 60s generation such as Goldstar radios (Zone 3), along with various collected artifacts, corporate-donated relics, and videos.
In the special exhibition room, the first story of the annual special exhibition ‘Guro, Youth’ titled ‘Like My Own Work’ is held. ‘Like My Own Work’ focuses on the themes of ‘work’ and ‘labor,’ providing visitors with time to reflect on the value of work and labor. It is scheduled to run until February 28 of next year. The media library offers various interactive content. It consists of ‘Factory G,’ where experiential education and cultural events take place; ‘G Valley Digital Storage,’ where representative industrial heritage of the Guro Industrial Complex can be viewed in 3D images; and ‘G Valley Explorer,’ which stores 300 oral archives including collections.
Additionally, on the 11th and 12th, ‘G Valley Industrial Museum (MUSEUM G)’ will co-host the online ‘G Valley X Sewoon Joint Forum’ for two days with the Beta City Center of Seoul City University.
Meanwhile, Seoul City unveiled the MI (Museum Identity) of ‘G Valley Industrial Museum (MUSEUM G).’ It visualizes the continuous transformation from Korea’s first industrial complex, the Guro Industrial Complex, through the Seoul Digital Industrial Complex to G Valley, and the museum’s aim to be a space of ‘creation, diffusion, and intersection.’ Based on the ‘G’ that runs through its identity, the nickname ‘MUSEUM G’ was created and expressed as a wordmark to be used in various symbols and promotional materials.
Hwang Bo-yeon, Director of the Economic Policy Office, said, “We will strive to make the G Valley Industrial Museum (MUSEUM G) a space that preserves Seoul’s industrial heritage and reflects the old Guro Industrial Complex, as well as a cultural space that citizens of G Valley and the southwestern region can enjoy.” He added, “We hope the museum will prepare for future industries, keeping in mind that G Valley is not only historically significant as the Guro Industrial Complex that achieved the ‘Miracle on the Han River,’ but also a future-oriented space leading the IT and venture industries of the 4th Industrial Revolution era.”
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