Home > Culture > Arts & Design

Ron Mueck's retrospective sparks membership surge at MMCA

Published: 20 May. 2025, 13:29

″Mass″ by Ron Mueck, on view at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in central Seoul [YONHAP]

A large-scale exhibition by Australian artist Ron Mueck at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) has driven a significant increase in the museum's membership, the MMCA said Tuesday.

Since the exhibition opened April 11, the museum has gained approximately 70,000 new members, and overall visitor numbers to its Seoul branch have surged by 145 percent compared with the same period last year.

The artist's first solo exhibition in Asia has drawn a record average of 6,777 daily visitors on weekends and 4,611 on weekdays, with individuals in their 20s and 30s accounting for 73 percent of the total attendance. To date, the exhibition's cumulative audience has surpassed 210,000.

The exhibition showcases 24 pieces of artwork, alongside two documentary films. The selection includes some of Mueck's most iconic works, as well as several rarely exhibited internationally.

Among them is "Mass," an installation consisting of 100 large-scale resin human skulls. It is displayed vertically for the first time, utilizing the MMCA's unique architecture. Transporting the installation to Korea required a two-month shipping process.

The MMCA noted the exhibition offers a deeply immersive experience, encouraging visitors to reflect on their emotions and personal responses evoked by the artist's sculptures, rendered either smaller or larger than life.

The exhibition runs through July 13.

Yonhap