National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Emerging Talent Program 'Young Exploration' Exhibition
13 Multidisciplinary Young Artists Teams in Architecture, Design, Photography
Until September 10 at National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Gwacheon
In architecture, columns can trace their origins back to ancient Greek temples. Temple columns, approximately 10 meters tall, were constructed by stacking dozens of bricks to create a long vertical form. Even today, columns remain an indispensable element in architecture, serving to reinforce the stability of buildings. However, columns in art museums have always posed a challenge for exhibition planners. The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon (MMCA Gwacheon), is a space where prominent columns are located throughout the building. Under the theme "Annotations for the Museum," young artists reinterpret these columns from their own perspectives and methods, proposing new interpretations.
![[Gallery Walk] Architecture, Design, Photography... Finding the Path for Young Artists](https://cphoto.asiae.co.kr/listimglink/1/2023050214514618195_1683006706.jpg)
The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art is holding the emerging artist discovery exhibition "Young Exploration" at the Gwacheon branch. Celebrating its 42nd anniversary this year, the "Young Exploration" exhibition places emphasis beyond the word "young" on "exploration," aiming to seek new directions. For the first time this year, artists from the fields of architecture and design are participating, expanding the genres and media of the works.
The exhibition features 13 teams including architects and designers of spaces and furniture, graphic designers, photographers, and media artists such as Kim Kyung-tae, Kim Dong-shin, Kim Hyun-jong, Mool (Son Min-seon, Jo Hyung-jun), Park Hee-chan, Baek Jong-gwan, COM (Kim Se-jung, Han Joo-won), Oh Hye-jin, Lee Da-mi, Jung Hyun, Jo Gyu-yeop, Chu Mi-rim, and Hwang Dong-wook.
For the exhibition subtitle "Annotations for the Museum," the artists present works that attach a kind of annotation by interpreting the museum space itself, especially the Gwacheon branch where the exhibition is held, as an extension of their previous works.
Architect Kim Hyun-jong, who focused on the Gwacheon branch where columns catch the eye, draws attention to the exhibition hall columns again using steel plates, patterned wood, and mirrors in his work "Scope and Expansion." He explains that he examined the materiality of the columns through concrete, which shares the same physical properties as diamonds. The artist stated, "To express diamonds, I created the work by deconstructing the form."
![[Gallery Walk] Architecture, Design, Photography... Finding the Path for Young Artists](https://cphoto.asiae.co.kr/listimglink/1/2023050214522418197_1683006744.jpg)
Kim Hyunjong, Kim Kyung-tae also presents work focusing on the numerous columns in the Gwacheon exhibition hall. The artist unveiled the "Series of Columns," which depicts columns that appear to overlap or touch depending on the viewpoint and perspective. While columns in museums can obstruct viewing exhibitions, from ancient times through the Renaissance, columns were an important solution for interpreting perspective in architecture.
The artist installed five photos with different base widths of columns and created the "Series of Columns," where all images appear identical from a specific viewpoint, allowing the viewer to see the image differently depending on the size of the subject and projection.
The design studio COM, consisting of Kim Se-jung and Han Joo-won, revealed "Museum Sculpture Collection," a work that miniaturizes the Gwacheon building like a model. This work reduces the features of each architectural structure of the Gwacheon branch, which were spread out in a large space and difficult to grasp at a glance, to a handheld size.
The group Mool, composed of Jo Hyung-jun and Son Min-seon, transformed the central hall of the Gwacheon branch into a new experiential space. Passing through the virtual guardian deities "Agni" and "Bayu," inspired by the Heavenly Kings Gate at temple entrances, visitors arrive at the "Blast Furnace" work, where steel plates from a blast furnace are laid on the floor like a red carpet. Walking on the work activates motion sensors that trigger grand sounds, and walking on the currently unused Y-shaped staircase leads to the video work "Stairs" installed above.
![[Gallery Walk] Architecture, Design, Photography... Finding the Path for Young Artists](https://cphoto.asiae.co.kr/listimglink/1/2023050214530718199_1683006787.jpg)
Mul, Graphic designer Kim Dong-shin, who created the "Ring" made of box tape, said he was inspired by the inscription on the Gwacheon branch's ridge beam. The inscription, "Here we build a hall that will shine forever for the development of our art, raising the main beam on this auspicious day, November 1985," is engraved on the ceiling of the Gwacheon branch's ramp core. The artist transfers this to a light medium, box tape, awakening a new sensibility. The majestic inscription on the building's ceiling is repeated over and over in thin, light tape.
This exhibition also stands out for diversifying the audience's appreciation through various related programs. During the exhibition period, curator talks, conversations with artists, poetry readings, and installation-linked performances will be held. Additionally, besides the catalog containing works by participating artists, a collected volume containing expanded discussions on the exhibition theme is scheduled to be published at the end of July.
The monograph titled "Annotations for the Museum" features contributors including art critic Kwak Young-bin, lawyer Kim Won-young, independent curator Shim So-si, director Yoon Hye-jung of International Gallery, curator Im Dae-geun of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, researcher Jung Da-young of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Professor Choi Sung-min of Visual Design at the University of Seoul, and architect Choi Chun-woong.
Jung Da-young, the curator who planned the exhibition, introduced, "The 13 works and annotations each expand the spatial and temporal context of the institutional space called the museum." She added, "Adding annotations is an act of broadening the connection points between the museum, artists, and audience," explaining, "This exhibition explores various stories through works by young visual artists who investigate diverse media and are equipped with new production methodologies."
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