Architecture, humanity explored in upcoming exhibits at Seoul Museum of Art

Seoul Museum of Art will be hosting architecture exhibitions emphasizing connections with humanity, including a solo exhibition of renowned architect Norman Foster and a group exhibition exploring the fundamentals of architecture.

Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi, scheduled to open in 2025, was designed by Norman Foster [SEOUL MUSEUM OF ART]

In 2024, exhibitions at the Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) will largely focus on architecture correlating with humanity.

“Architecture refers to the physical spaces built to be occupied by humans. But with art, we aim to help connect people with the society we live in and think about immigration issues and form communities,” Jung So-la, director of the curatorial bureau at SeMA, said last week.

“An art museum plays a vital role when reflecting on architecture, as it serves as a platform for various public programs. It also gives us the opportunity to think of what a sustainable art museum is, and its future.”

The municipal museum will hold the solo exhibition of 88-year-old British architect and designer Norman Foster at its Seosomun main branch in Jung District, central Seoul, for three months from April 25. Foster was the winner of the renowned Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1999. The exhibition will highlight the museums and public facilities that Foster has designed since the ‘60s, including the Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi, which is scheduled to open in 2025.

Another architecture exhibition will showcase the works of Kim Sung-hwan, 48, centering on the latest and third video piece of his “A Record of Drifting Across the Sea” (2017-) project. The show will continue to move its arrangement around during its run from Dec. 19 to March 30, 2025, with architecture, design, performance and videos. This is Kim’s first solo exhibition at a public Korean art museum.

A still from Kim Sung-hwan's ″A Record of Drifting Across the Sea″ (2021) [SEOUL MUSEUM OF ART]

At the Nam-Seoul Museum of Art (Nam-SeMA) in Gwanak District, southern Seoul, a group exhibition on architecture will run for three months from April 10. Six contemporary artists attempt to explore the fundamentals of architecture, in terms of its relationship between human and nature, past and present, community and individual and material and nonmaterial.

“Connection” is another item on the agenda for SeMA, which will be shown as part of the “SeMA Omnibus” exhibitions set for the latter half of this year. They will showcase SeMA’s art collection across four of the SeMA branches — the Seosomun main branch, Buk-Seoul Museum of Art, Nam-SeMA and Art Archives, Seoul Museum of Art.

“SeMA Omnibus” is intended to explore SeMA’s collection according to aspects of “genre, medium, generation and society” across different parts of Seoul and add newly-commissioned works.

Later in the year, there will be an exhibition on Korean female artists from Aug. 1 to Oct. 17. Featuring the works of painters like Chun Kyung-ja, Lee Sook-ja, Won Moon-ja, Shin Kyung-ja and Song Soo-ryun, the goal is to reassess their value in the modern art scene.

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]