The anniversary project revisits the museum’s identity through nature, architecture, collections and public programs

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, is marking the 40th anniversary of MMCA Gwacheon with a special project titled MMCA Gwacheon 40th Anniversary: Imaginations in Light.

The program reflects on the distinctive identity of MMCA Gwacheon, a museum where nature, architecture and art have intersected since its opening. Rather than presenting a single exhibition, the anniversary project brings together exhibitions, educational programs, design interventions and public events across the museum’s indoor and outdoor spaces.

At the center of the project is a renewed look at the museum’s relationship with its surrounding environment. Located within a natural landscape, MMCA Gwacheon has long been defined not only by its galleries, but also by its sculpture park, circular architecture, outdoor pathways and the experience of moving between art and nature.

One of the main programs, Lingering Grounds, invites visitors to reconsider the museum’s sculpture park. The project connects works by contemporary designers with outdoor sculptures, creating new relationships between the museum’s past and present. By bringing new interventions into the natural landscape, the program reimagines the sculpture park as a living space of encounter rather than a static outdoor display.

Another exhibition, Lightscape, focuses on light as a way to connect the museum’s architecture, collection and visitors’ movement. Presented in the third-floor lobby and bridge area, the project draws from works in the MMCA collection and extends the experience of art beyond the conventional gallery.

The second circular gallery presents After Image, which explores light, perception and spatial experience through works by artists including Ivan Navarro and James Turrell. The exhibition considers light not simply as a visual effect, but as a medium that shapes how viewers sense space, memory and the body.

The anniversary project also includes participatory and educational programs. 40 Scenes: A Participatory Archive Project collects visitors’ memories of the museum, while The Scent of Summer at MMCA offers a family-oriented workshop at the Children’s Museum. A special lecture series and evening program, Museum After Dark: Explore and Discover, further expand the museum experience beyond daytime viewing.

A special screening program, Artists in Sculpture Park, will also be held from August 25 to 29 at MMCA Gwacheon’s Main Auditorium. The program introduces films on key artists and works connected to the sculpture park, including Jenny Holzer, Lee Ufan and Magdalena Abakanowicz.

Through these programs, Imaginations in Light positions MMCA Gwacheon not simply as an exhibition venue, but as a layered cultural environment. The project invites visitors to move through galleries, outdoor paths, architectural passages and archival memories, encountering the museum as a continuum of spaces and histories.

MMCA Gwacheon’s 40th anniversary is therefore not only a celebration of the past. It is also an attempt to ask how a museum built around nature, art and public experience can continue to renew itself for the future.

MMCA Gwacheon 40th Anniversary: Imaginations in Light opened on July 10 at MMCA Gwacheon. Major programs include Lingering Grounds and Lightscape, both running through November 29, 2026, and After Image, which continues through October 31, 2027. Admission is 3,000 won, with free admission for visitors under 24 and over 65. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and closed on Mondays and January 1.

[Sayart = Maria Kim] SayArt.net
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