MMCA Gwacheon Celebrates 40th Anniversary with Masters of Light

[Anchor]

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Gwacheon, is celebrating its 40th anniversary. The museum is showcasing a project where works by masters of light harmonize with the unique spatial characteristics of the Gwacheon venue.

Reporter Lee Ju-sang visited the exhibition.

[Reporter]

[MMCA Gwacheon 40th Anniversary: Imagining Light / Through November 29 / MMCA Gwacheon]

Light bulbs that flicker in constant variation capture the viewer's attention.

Inspired by the marquees of early Hollywood cinema entrances, the work seems to guide visitors toward the central space of the MMCA Gwacheon, where Nam June Paik’s 'The More, The Better' is located.

In the museum's bridge area, media art unfolds, addressing the dystopian reality of delivery riders in the era of the platform economy.

Forty LED panels have been installed in the corridor space, set against the museum's front windows.

[Lee Soo-yeon / Curator, MMCA: We focused on the visitor's experience, allowing them to enjoy the Gwacheon venue in the present and feel the beauty of the museum as it is now.]

'Master of light' James Turrell creates distinct sensory experiences that shift according to the visitor's position and movement, utilizing LED lighting and scrim, a translucent fabric.

Iván Navarro, who pursues optical illusions through neon and mirrors, evokes conflicting emotions—memory and absence, anxiety and hope—through the infinite depth and sense of space created by light.

[Kim Yu-jin / Curator, MMCA: We paid close attention to ensuring visitors can stay comfortably. We have created a space where people can meditate and rest through the light of the artworks.]

In the outdoor sculpture park, five contemporary artists have installed sculptures that visitors can sit on, lean against, and linger around.

[Kang Soo-jung / Director of Operations, MMCA Gwacheon: This signifies that the museum has designed its entire history alongside the history of Korean art for forty years, and that full-scale planning, research, and collection regarding Korean art history began here.]

Opened in 1986 and designed by architect Kim Tae-soo, MMCA Gwacheon has embraced moments of experimentation and creation in Korean contemporary art, where nature, architecture, and art coexist.

(Video Editing: Choi Jin-hwa, VJ: Oh Se-gwan)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.