Daejeon City's Proposed 'I Jong-su Art Museum' Feasibility Pre-Evaluation Faces Another Setback

Reapplied in January Following Last Year but Received Notification of Ineligibility

The planning and design presentation of the Lee Jong-su Art Museum held last January / Daejeon City

The plan to build the Lee Jong-su Art Museum, promoted by Daejeon City, has once again failed to pass the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

According to Daejeon City on the 13th, the Ministry recently notified that the preliminary feasibility evaluation for establishing a public art museum for the Lee Jong-su Art Museum was deemed inappropriate due to limitations as a museum based on donations from a specific artist. Despite reapplying in January this year after the initial application in July last year, the establishment feasibility was not recognized.

A city official said, "After failing the first evaluation, we reapplied considering the expandability and professionalism as a ceramic art museum, but we are surprised by this judgment," adding, "We will review the results internally and determine the future direction."

Daejeon City has been promoting the creation of the first specialized exhibition hall for senior artists utilizing the cultural value of the late ceramic artist Lee Jong-su, a native of the region. The city plans to build the museum in Soje Central Cultural Park, Soje-dong, Dong-gu, with a total floor area of 1,100㎡, including one basement floor and one above-ground floor, at a cost of 12.78 billion KRW, equipped with exhibition rooms, storage, education, research, and experience rooms.

In particular, it is the first in Korea to promote architectural planning and design using a public architect, and held a presentation in the lobby on the second floor of City Hall last January.