The Korean National Museum of Contemporary Art sits in a scenic location by the mountains, 30 minutes from downtown Seoul. The sprawling sculpture garden out front is a beautiful place to relax, while the 25,000 sq. meters of space inside make it the largest museum in the country.
Opened in 1969, the museum moved to its present location in 1986. Its atrium is dominated by an 18.5-meter-high installation, "The More, The Better" (1988), by Nam June Paik, a video-art pioneer who died this year. The main exhibition areas are accommodating, with many irregularly shaped rooms, allowing for creative exhibition design and making a walk-through more fun than formal.
Last week, K-MoCA opened the show "100 Years of Korean Art, Part II," which surveys Korean art from 1957 to the present with more than 300 works in various media. Arranged in a visitor-friendly chronological order reflecting key political and social developments in the country, it is a fine introduction to contemporary Korean art, with representation from lesser-known artists along with major figures such as Lee Bul, Lee U-Fan and of course Nam.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.