What Should Museums Aspire To?... National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Publishes Research Series

What Should Museums Aspire To

A book that explores the public nature of art and art museums from multiple perspectives has been published.

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) announced on December 4 that it has published a research series titled "What Should Museums Aspire To: Art, Museums, and Publicness."

In the book, Kim Youngmin, Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Seoul National University, emphasizes that national art museums are distinct from private galleries, which pursue private profit, and also differ from other institutions aimed at national promotion, as they focus on contemporary art characterized by subversion. Sim Boseon, Professor at the Graduate School of Communication at Yonsei University, identifies the initiation of discourse and debate as the core of publicness, and explores the potential for museums to function as arenas for public debate.

Additionally, Nur Hanim Mohamed Khairuddin, Curator and General Manager of the Perak State Government's PORT in Malaysia, introduces cases of public art projects that play a dynamic role in urban environments and presents strategies for the sustainability of contemporary art. Cho Sunryeong, Professor in the Department of Art, Culture, and Film Studies at Pusan National University, focuses on the potential of "temporary communities" created by exhibitions and discusses how museum exhibitions can function as spaces that sensorially embody social meaning.

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art has been strengthening its research function and stimulating discourse on contemporary art and museums since launching the MMCA Research Project in 2018. To date, it has held a total of five international symposiums: "What Do Museums Research?" (2018), "What Do Museums Collect?" (2018), "What Moves Museums?" (2019), "What Do Museums Connect?" (2021), and "What Should Museums Aspire To?" (2024). Related content has also been published as books.

This 2025 research series, "What Should Museums Aspire To: Art, Museums, and Publicness," reexamines publicness as an essential foundation for the existence of museums and provides a meaningful reference point for public art institutions seeking future direction. The book is published in a bilingual Korean-English edition and is available for purchase at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art's on- and offline bookstores, as well as domestic online bookstores.

Kim Sunghee, Director of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, stated, "I hope this series will serve as a small milestone in redefining the meaning of publicness in a changing era."