MMCA admission free for 10 days starting Sept. 1
Kicking off Korea Art Festival 2025, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea is offering free admission from Sept. 1 to 10 at all its venues: Samcheong-dong, Seoul; Deoksugung, Seoul; Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province; and Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province. All museums are closed Mondays except the Samcheong-dong venue, which is open daily.
Here is a roundup of upcoming and ongoing shows.
For a survey of Korean modern and contemporary art, two exhibitions are currently running at MMCA Seoul and MMCA Gwacheon. While the Seoul exhibition in Samcheong-dong focuses on Korean contemporary art from the 1950s, the Gwacheon venue focuses on how Korean modern art began to flourish since the late 19th century, referring to some pivotal events in the art scene, such as the establishment of the state-run MMCA at the royal palace of Gyeongbokgung in 1969.
Located within Deoksugung, a Joseon-period royal palace in the heart of downtown Seoul, MMCA Deoksugung reflects on 80 years of modern Korean history, marking the 80th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule.
The newly opened exhibition takes the theme of “nostalgia for one’s hometown,” which has been a recurring motif in modern Korean literature and art. While admission to the museum is free, admission to the palace costs 1,000 won per person.
For those curious about what young Korean artists are creating today, there are two exhibitions worth visiting during the free admission period. "The Korea Artist Prize 2025" will open Aug. 29 at MMCA Seoul, showing works by four finalists: Kim Young-eun, Kim Ji-pyeong, artist collective Unmake Lab and Im Young-zoo.
The “Young Korean Artists 2025: Here and Now” exhibition at MMCA Gwacheon features works by some 20 artists and collectives. The exhibition is one of the oldest programs at the state-run museum and aims to discover and support talented newcomers in the field of art.
MMCA Seoul will open the retrospective of Korean art master Kim Tschang-yeul on Aug. 22, shedding light on the legacy of the artist who dedicated his whole life to creating luminous water drops derived from his traumatic experiences from the Korean War (1950-1953) in his early 20s.
If you are a fan of media art, the exhibition "Agarmon Encyclopedia: Leaked Edition,” also at MMCA Seoul, is an intriguing one. In this year's edition of the MMCA×LG OLED Series, the young media artist Tzusoo questions the meaning of existence through media art and installation of a mysterious translucent object called “Agarmon 5.”
MMCA Cheongju in North Chungcheong Province, whose storage rooms are open to visitors, is currently running four exhibitions, including a storage exhibition showing its contemporary Japanese print collection. Japanese printmaking reached a vibrant peak in the 1970s, influenced by pop art and conceptual art, according to the museum.
For families with children, MMCA Gwacheon runs the Children’s Museum, which presents “Tomorrow Will Be…” with a focus on hands-on and experiential learning. The exhibition was organized in collaboration with the Gallery Children’s Biennale at the National Gallery Singapore.
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