The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA, Director Youn Bummo) presents MMCA Gwacheon Project 2021: Art Bus Shelter from 15 December 2021 to 20 November 2022 as part of its ongoing space renewal project.
MMCA Gwacheon Project is a competition organized by the MMCA as part of its strategy to magnify the key functions of MMCA Gwacheon and revitalize its outdoor space. This year’s Gwacheon Project expands on previous years’ short-term pavilion projects and enhances the value of the museum experience through the permanent revival of the museum’s space. As a part of plans carried out in anticipation of MMCA Gwacheon’s 40th anniversary in 2026, this year’s project will facilitate organic collaborations between creators in various fields, including architecture, design, and landscape architecture, to reform parts of the museum and reconstruct it into an improved platform for artistic experiences.
The three bus stops around MMCA Gwacheon, which both provide access and greet visitors upon their arrival to the museum, were selected as the first sites of renewal. MMCA Gwacheon Project 2021: Art Bus Shelter positions each bus stop as a point of transition in visitors’ journeys from the busy city center to the museum surrounded by nature, envisaging the stops as shelters imbued with a new vision and perspective. The newly installed Art Bus Shelters will provide visitors who arrive on shuttle buses with a site-specific experience, allowing them to fully enjoy the lasting impact of the museum’s hospitality towards ecological practices, the short yet pleasant journey to the museum known for its natural surroundings, and the landscape and artworks it presents.
Diagonal Thoughts (Kim Sara), who won this year’s competition with the work ( ) function, proposed the work be installed at MMCA Gwacheon’s three shuttle bus stops, located at Seoul Grand Park Station and the museum’s front and back entrances. As sites to rest, wait, or meditate, the bus stops are occupied by visitors in their various desired ways—sitting or standing, conversing or silent. The work, alternating between functional architecture and abstract sculpture, becomes a stage as it captures visitors’ anticipation for and curiosity about their yet-reached destination. Diagonal Thoughts designed the structures to suit the specific sites and the aesthetics of waiting, paying attention to the invisible gestural traces left behind by people waiting at the stops. Through these spatial mechanisms, users can experience the space more flexibly and expand their perception as they engage in different actions and gestures.
As an extension of the project, the MMCA also introduces a program that amplifies the sense of travel and movement felt on a bus ride. Deeming each of the MMCA Gwacheon Project’s three Art Bus Shelters as a single dot, the journey to the museum becomes a line that connects the dots. As synesthetic mechanisms, a therapeutic aroma triggers the imagery of a lush forest and an ambient, meditative sound heightens the sense of space and travel, facilitating passengers’ renewed recognition of the mundane activities. The 20 minutes or so spent on the shuttle bus to the museum—and back to everyday life when departing—thus serves as another spatiotemporal platform of this project.
In addition to Diagonal Thoughts’ winning work, archival videos of the colorful works proposed by the four other finalists (Kim Jongbuhm & Kim Daum, Lee Sukwoo, Chung Isak, and Jung Sujin) will be released. Through the group-unit museum site survey that was carried out last summer and individual research, the finalists came up with proposals with fascinating keywords and meaningful themes: “Doors: The Transitional Space (Kim Jongbuhm & Kim Daum), “Space of Emptiness, Curiosity, and Imagery” (Lee Sukwoo), “Go to the ART Museum” (Jung Sujin), and “Under the shade, On the bench” (Chung Isak). These proposals, filled with thoughtful multilateral considerations of visitors’ perspectives and museum experience, will be released sequentially on the MMCA YouTube channel in December.
Youn Bummo, director of the MMCA, notes, “This project aims to pay attention to MMCA Gwacheon’s site-specificity and ecological aspects, renew its space, and magnify its experience. The Art Bus Shelters will provide travelers to the museum with a chance to experience a new level of relaxation, meditation, and delight.”
