Seoul Museum of Art to open Korea's first public art archive

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

Entertainment & Arts

Tue, October 3, 2023 | 05:26

Theater & Others

Seoul Museum of Art to open Korea's first public art archive

Posted : 2023-03-30 15:56

Updated : 2023-03-30 16:38

The facade of the Art Archives, Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA AA) that is set to open its doors to the public on April 4 / Courtesy of SeMA

By Park Han-sol

The Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA), a network of museums and art-focused entities strewn across the capital city and operated by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, is set to open its first archive in April.

The Art Archives, Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA AA), slated for an April 4 opening, is the country's first-ever public institution dedicated to collecting, preserving and researching historic records and documents relevant to the contemporary Korean art scene.

Nestled in central Seoul's Jongno District, the institution brings together some 57,000 archival materials amassed since 2017 ― which include never-before-released artists' notes, drawings, handwritten manuscripts, diaries, correspondence, memos, photographs, films and books, as well as the writings of art historians, critics and curators.

Completed in 2022 after three years of construction, the SeMA AA consists of three separate structures. The main building, named "Moeum-dong" in Korean, houses exhibition halls in addition to a reference library with over 4,500 art books and a research lab, where visitors can make reservations to browse through more than the 20,000 original archived materials.

"We aim to establish the Art Archives as an institution where art records and artworks coexist," the museum official said during the Wednesday press preview.

Installation view of "Cheerful Learning, Delightful Knowledge, Joyful Knowing," which is part of the extensive collection of artworks and historic documents accumulated by the late critic, poet, curator and translator Choi Min (1944-2018) / Courtesy of SeMA

A page from painter Tchah-Sup Kim's notes in 2005 / Courtesy of SeMA

To mark the grand opening, the archive will host two special exhibitions offering a peek into its collection.

"Cheerful Learning, Delightful Knowledge, Joyful Knowing" brings to light the extensive collection of artworks and historic documents accumulated by acclaimed critic, poet, educator, curator and translator Choi Min (1944-2018).

Choi amassed 161 artworks and nearly 25,000 materials during his lifetime, all of which were donated to the SeMA by his family in 2019 and 2020.

At the upcoming show, some 1,200 materials and eight art pieces from the Choi Min Collection will be put on view, along with five newly commissioned works of photography, video and installation.

"Archive Highlight: Kim Yong-ik, Kim Tchah-Sup, Rim Dong Sik" is set to present over 50 artists' notes and "esquisse," or rough sketches, kept by the three contemporary creators who forged their own artistic path against the changing sociopolitical climate of Korea in the 1970s.

In addition to the two special exhibitions, both of which run through July 30, the archive is holding a permanent show, "SeMA ― Project A."

Eight sculptures and installations span the buildings' rooftop garden and other unused spaces to create visual harmony with the surrounding scenery. This includes Chung Hyun's "Untitled," made up of a seven-meter-long wooden crossbeam that used to support the roof of a centuries-old Joseon-era "hyanggyo," or Confucian school, in Gyeongsang Province.

Installation view of "SeMA ― Project A" / Courtesy of SeMA

hansolp@koreatimes.co.kr