MMCA
About the Exhibition
MMCA Hyundai Motor Series 2023: Jung Yeondoo – One Hundred Years of Travels examines the narratives of the Korean diaspora in Mexico, inspired by the mythical journey of a prickly pear cactus from Mexico to Jeju Island. Artist Jung Yeondoo imagines a ‘century-long journey of plants and people’ between Korea and Mexico to cultivate a sense of empathy for the unfamiliar.
This exhibition signifies an extension of the artist’s enduring approach, wherein he strives to access reality and history while employing strangeness to examine in detail the multi-layered aspects within a reality once disregarded as familiar. Its objective is to spotlight immigrants’ life journeys and perspectives within a realm of hybridity and diverse cultures, utilizing art to bridge understanding between viewers and unfamiliar subjects.
Presented as the 10th in the series, MMCA Hyundai Motor Series 2023: Jung Yeondoo – One Hundred Years of Travels is open to the public from September 6, 2023, until February 25, 2024, at MMCA’s Seoul Box and Gallery 5, presenting five works across mediums, including video installations, photographs and performances. Among the works, One Hundred Years of Travels, Imaginary Song, Generational Portraits and Wall of Blades have been newly commissioned.
About the Artist
Yeondoo Jung (b. 1969, Jinju, Korea) lives and works in Seoul. Jung concentrates on photography, video, and installation works where subjects participate, performance occurs in both direct and indirect ways, and fiction and reality form an affectionate understanding of human lives. Material for Jung’s work comes from the everyday lives of people, and as he shares his intention with those involved, he plays with the boundary of visual art and performance. Some of the representative works are Evergreen Tower (2001), Bewitched (2001-), Documentary Nostalgia (2007), Cinemagician (2010), Blind Perspective (2014). Jung has been making a series of multi-channel video works documenting the personal perspectives of the people who had experienced particular socio-political incidents in recent Asian histories, such as A Girl in Tall shoes (2018), Classic and New (2018), Noise Quartet (2019). He showed at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea in 2020, Seoul Museum of Art in 2019, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo in 2019, MAC/VAL France in 2018, Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe in 2018.
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.
