Busan MoCA aims to be a 'museum that never closes'

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Busan MoCA aims to be a 'museum that never closes'

Published: 30 Jan. 2023, 15:04 Updated: 31 Jan. 2023, 16:08

“The Postmodern Child,” the first edition of the Museum of Contemporary Art Busan's children's exhibition [BUSAN MOCA]

BUSAN — Families traveling in the southeastern port city should pay a visit to the Museum of Contemporary Art Busan (Busan MoCA) this year, which is located in Saha District’s Eulsuk Island.

Busan MoCA announced its plans for 2023, revealing that a children’s exhibition is set to run all year long.

Titled “The Postmodern Child,” the first edition is already on view at the museum and focuses on allowing children to fully enjoy art.

Visitors can touch the artworks that include childish crayon drawings from Nam June Paik (1932-2006), and even a huge hole in the wall that is bound to garner some giggles from a younger audience.

Ramps with makeshift walls inside the space rise 40 centimeters (15.7 inches) above ground, “because when you consider the average first to third grader’s height to be around 130 centimeters, their eye-level will be able to match with the average adult’s when going up the ramps,” the exhibit’s curator Choi Sang-ho said on Thursday.

“The Postmodern Child,” the first edition of the Museum of Contemporary Art Busan's children's exhibition [BUSAN MOCA]

Other artworks are situated a bit closer to the ground, likewise, “for the children to see better.”

The second edition begins on Children’s Day — May 5 — and along with the exhibition space is a children’s library across two floors, arranged like a maze for kids to explore on their own.

“We’re really proud of our children’s library, and we hope that it aids with educating about art,” said the museum’s director Kang Seung-wan, who took office six months ago.

Busan MoCA is also holding a permanent exhibition of the museum’s collection, which currently consists of 285 pieces.

“We’re planning to open it toward the latter half of this year,” Kang said. “We’ll switch the pieces on display every six weeks according to different themes, but it’s our ultimate goal to create a museum that ‘never closes.’”

Since opening its doors to the public in June 2018, the museum’s building has been used every two years for the Busan Biennale and had to be closed during the two-month-long events. Kang said that with the permanent exhibition she hopes that Busan MoCA can now open all year long.

The children's library at the Museum of Contemporary Art Busan. [SHIN MIN-HEE]

Another focus for the museum is movies. Busan has been in the spotlight as Korea’s cinema mecca — it is home to the annual Busan International Film Festival, and many internationally-acclaimed films, like Park Chan-wook’s “Decision to Leave” (2022) and “Broker” (2022) by Hirokazu Kore-eda had scenes shot in the city.

Busan MoCA hopes to expand on that reputation by building a cinema inside the museum that can seat up to 100 people and screen art films that comprehensively explore societal issues.

“It’s our lifelong task to figure out how Eulsuk Island can become the forefront of the world,” Kang said.

Busan MoCA is open every day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. except Mondays. For more information, visit the museum’s website.

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]