MMCA
About the Exhibition
For Gathering, Park Chan-kyong’s MMCA Hyundai Motor Series 2019 exhibition, the artist created eight new works within the structure of a mise en abyme. Installed near the entrance, “Small Museum of Art” functioned as the exhibition’s self-reflective frame and explored whether or not our familiarity with art history and museums stems from an artificially indoctrinated framework. Also on view was “Belated Bosal,” a 55-minute film that paired the religious event of Siddartha Gautama’s nirvana with the Fukushima nuclear accident. Park used black-and-white negatives to evoke Fukushima’s radioactivity while following the stories of two women: one wandering through the mountains and one hiking to measure radioactive contamination. Also centered on Fukushima was “Fukushima, Autoradiography,” which projected photographs taken in a village hit by the Fukushima nuclear disaster with Masamichi Kagaya’s autoradiographs that visualize radioactivity. The piece was presented alongside “Sets” and together the two highlighted Park’s ability to see similarities in different objects and find points of connection. At the center of the exhibition was “Water Mark,” which featured cement panels engraved with different styles of waves with wooden maru (the raised flooring in a traditional Korean house). Lectures and discussions about the exhibition took place throughout the run of the show as “gatherings” that reflected Park’s belief that “art is the conversation about art.”
About the Artist
Park Chan-kyong (b. 1965 Seoul, South Korea) is known for his film, installation, and photography that considers the Cold War, division of Korea, folk religion, and modernity of East Asia. Park majored in painting, but after graduation focused on writing about and curating exhibitions. His first solo exhibition, Black Box: Memory of the Cold War Images, was at the Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul in 1997. In 2008 he began directing short and feature-length films on modernity in Korea, Korean folk religion, and shamanism. Park was awarded the Hermès Foundation Missulsang (2004), and the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at the Berlin International Film Festival (2011). He also curated the exhibition Ghosts, Spies and Grandmothers for SeMA Biennale Mediacity Seoul (2014).
About the Program
MMCA Hyundai Motor Series
The MMCA Hyundai Motor Series is a pivotal part of the decade-long partnership between MMCA and Hyundai Motor, which aims to expand the field of Korean contemporary art and its role in the broader global dialogue. Each year, MMCA Seoul presents a major solo exhibition featuring new works by a Korean artist or collective. Accompanied by seminars and publications, this platform offers audiences an immersive encounter with the prevailing currents and vibrancy of Korean art today. The series began in 2014 with a groundbreaking exhibition by Lee Bul, followed by Ahn Kyuchul, Kimsooja, IM Heung-soon, CHOIJEONGHWA, Park Chan-kyong, Haegue Yang, MOON Kyungwon & JEON Joonho, and Choe U-Ram, and culminates in 2023-4 with Jung Yeondoo.