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Between Gyeongbok Palace and Samcheong-dong, a big construction site is being transformed into the National Museum of Contemporary Art (NMOCA) Seoul branch. The building is still awaiting completion, but it will become the nation’s flagship modern and contemporary art museum in 10 months.

The NMOCA opened the construction area to the media Tuesday. Journalists were invited to look around the renovated former Defense Security Command headquarters, which will house a museum shop, a restaurant and office facilities, and went through the framework of a special exhibition hall which led to the main information box and underground exhibition halls. Also being completed are libraries and a multi-purpose hall for interdisciplinary arts.

“There will be 21st century buildings with the former Defense Security Command building from the early 20th century and an office building from the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910) being relocated to their original position in the Seoul branch of NMOCA. It is going to be a unique art museum encompassing history,” Chung Hyung-min, director of the museum said.

According to the NMOCA, the new structure is about 68 percent completed. President Lee Myung-bak first announced the plan for the downtown museum in 2009 and 246 billion won was put aside for the project. The Seoul branch was originally scheduled to be completed by February, but a fire last August delayed the progress. The museum will be finished by June before the official opening in November.

Slated for Nov. 12, the Seoul branch of NMOCA will open with a special exhibition “Connecting_Unfolding.” The NMOCA invited six international curators — Richard Flood of the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; Ann Gallagher from the Tate in London; Yuko Hasegawa from New Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo; Lee Sook-kyung from the Tate Research Centre: Asia-Pacific; Bernhard Serexhe from Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Germany; and Pooja Sood from Khoj International Artists’ Association, India — to participate.

“This exhibit aims to promote the Seoul branch as a hub for contemporary art where tradition and modernity coexist based on international networking,” Chung said. “The curators will select artists with each country’s cultural traits and ‘Connecting_Unfolding’ will interconnect them and map the future of NMOCA.”

Photos, videos and sound collected during the five-year construction period will be also be on exhibit to show how the museum was built. Korean artist Suh Do-ho is preparing a site-specific work that will be installed at the information booth as a part of his “Home within Home” series. The museum will also invite new media artists such as Chiharu Shiota and Manuel Lima for the Alef Project.

About 70 percent of the exhibitions at the Seoul branch will be special exhibitions and the rest will be from the museum’s collection. “We will introduce Korean modern and contemporary art so visitors who come to this museum can review Korean art history at glance,” Chung said.

A public relations pavilion has been opened at the construction site to give a sneak peek of the new museum to the public. Visitors can see a scale model and participate in media artist Ha Te-soc’s work “Collective Museum” to decide the shape of the ideal museum through a smartphone application. Photographers Noh Sun-tag and Back Seung-woo present their works documenting the construction process of the museum.

On the second floor, a robot gives an explanation of the museum while visitors view the construction site through a large window. The pavilion opens daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and to 8 p.m. on weekends and runs through the end of April.

For more information, visit www.moca.go.kr/engN.

By Kwon Mee-yoo


http://koreatimes.co.kr