Exterior view of the Museum of Contemporary Art Busan. Courtesy of the museum.The Museum of Contemporary Art Busan (Busan MoCA), led by Director Kang Seung-wan, appointed as the new director in June 2022, is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year.
Busan MoCA announced that it would improve its programs this year to become an art museum with an international voice while simultaneously strengthening its identity as a regional representative art museum. Located in the Eulsukdo Ecological Park, the museum will showcase exhibitions that will particularly focus on the themes of environment, ecology, and climate change.
The museum intends to investigate local contemporary issues that can be shared internationally, with a particular emphasis on the current situation that faces the post-pandemic, digital transformation, and climate change crises. It will also strive to become a leading contemporary art museum by supporting and sharing related discourses through consistent research.
To achieve this goal, the six upcoming exhibitions at Busan MoCA this year will feature contemporary artists of various nationalities rather than focusing only on Korean artists. This article will introduce exhibitions that mainly feature contemporary art.
Saodat Ismailova, 'Two Horizons,' 2017, Video Installation. Courtesy of the artist and the Museum of Contemporary Art Busan.
Busan MoCA, an art museum that considers video works an important part of its identity, will present Climate of Cinema: Isle & Planet from April 4 to August 6, 2023, as part of its Busan MoCA Cinemedia 2023 program. The inaugural biannual program will examine the medium of film from various perspectives and feature works that address issues of ecology, film, and history. Kim Soyoung, a professor at the Korea National University of Arts, and Kim Gahyun, a curator at Busan MoCA, will organize the exhibition.
The children’s exhibition, The Postmodern Child (Part 2): Do Not Cook Special Meals for a Picky Child, will be held from May 5 to August 27, 2023. Approximately thirty Korean and international artists, including Martin Creed (United Kingdom), Ulala Imai (Japan), Farah Atassi (Belgium), eobchae (South Korea), and mididice (South Korea), will participate in the exhibition, presenting various works such as paintings, sculptures, installations, videos, and sound works. By defining children’s “discipline” as a set of rules and controls, the exhibition will consider the possibilities that can occur when children are liberated from these rules and controls.
Film still image of Hyoyeon Kim's 'Bell of the End' (2023). Courtesy of the artist and the Museum of Contemporary Art Busan.
Utopian Scenario About Nature, a special exhibition curated by Kim Taein, curator at Busan MoCA, will be held from September 2, 2023 to January 7, 2024. The exhibition will include archival photographs, videos, paintings, installations, and interactive performances and will examine the connection between the climate crisis and contemporary capitalism. The exhibition will present a critical discourse on the effective methods of creating artworks and the social role of contemporary art in this era.
John Akomfrah, 'The Airport,' 2016, 3-channel video, color, 7.1. sound, 53 mins. Courtesy of the artist and the Museum of Contemporary Art Busan.The Busan MoCA Collection Isle will open as a permanent exhibition on September 22, 2023. The exhibition will feature works from all artistic disciplines, including media art, sound and video installations, and works by local artists. Through its collections, the museum intends to strengthen its activities, such as supplementing research projects, collecting and constructing related materials, developing exhibitions and educational programs, and reinforcing its identity.
