Sungkok Art Museum, one of Seoul's oldest private museums, is commemorating its 30th anniversary with a groundbreaking exhibition that explores the relationship between memory and space. The exhibition "In Portrait: Sungkok Art Museum 2025" opened on September 23 and features works by 14 artists who have either previously exhibited at the museum or have personal connections to the historic space.
Located on a peaceful street near Gyeonghuigung, a Joseon-era royal palace in Seoul, Sungkok Art Museum was established in 1995 by Ssangyong Group to honor the company's founder, Kim Sung-gon. The museum emerged during Korea's museum boom of the 1990s and has dedicated itself to supporting artists across generations, with a particular emphasis on contemporary art throughout its three-decade history. Despite the dissolution of Ssangyong Group following the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the museum has continued its mission of promoting artistic excellence.
The museum itself occupies a site rich with historical significance. It sits where the late Kim Sung-gon's residence once stood, and before his ownership, the space housed Japanese officials during Japan's colonial occupation of Korea. Today, the museum is distinguished by its small garden featuring trees that are more than 100 years old, creating a serene environment that bridges the past and present.
Among the featured artists, web artist Song Ye-hwan has created a particularly compelling installation that reflects on the museum's historical and geographical context. Her work focuses on the concept of "baesanimsu," which refers to the traditional Korean notion of an ideal location for a house – one built with a mountain in the back and a river in the front. Song's installation, titled "Harvesting Feng Shui," combines everyday materials such as cardboard, plastic, iron, and wood with web-based moving images, creating a unique intersection between traditional geographical philosophy and contemporary digital experience.
French artist Georges Rousse, internationally renowned for his painterly interventions in abandoned or memory-laden spaces, contributes installations that showcase his mastery of vivid palettes and geometric forms. Rousse employs the anamorphosis technique to construct images that become fully legible only when viewed from a precise vantage point. His installations, including "Seoul, Sungkok II," are strategically placed throughout various parts of the museum and can only be seen as complete images from designated viewing spots. These works serve as an artistic introduction to the museum's accumulated memories and experiences.
Photographer Sung Ji-yeon offers another perspective through her keen observation of human behavior in cultural spaces. Her series "Museum Portrait" captures the physical gestures and subconscious responses of visitors in public spaces, paying particular attention to the postures and behaviors of museumgoers that will feel familiar to anyone who has visited a museum. Her works reveal the fascinating transformation that occurs when a museum visitor transitions from being a subject who enters the space to becoming an object captured within it.
Lee Sou-kyoun, deputy director of the museum, explained the exhibition's deeper purpose in a statement: "The exhibition is an attempt to recognize the museum's spatial particularity and explore how art can respond to the ephemeral yet enduring strata of space and time. The participating artists drew inspiration from composite manifestations about the museum." This curatorial approach emphasizes how contemporary art can engage with and interpret the layers of history and memory embedded within a single location.
The anniversary exhibition represents more than just a celebration of the museum's longevity; it serves as a meditation on how spaces accumulate meaning over time and how artists can interpret and respond to these accumulated memories. Through diverse artistic approaches ranging from digital installations to photographic documentation, the exhibition demonstrates the museum's ongoing commitment to fostering dialogue between contemporary art and historical context.
"In Portrait: Sungkok Art Museum 2025" will continue to run through December 7, offering visitors an opportunity to experience how contemporary artists interpret and respond to the complex layers of history, memory, and space that define this unique cultural institution.
