Suwon, April 28 – August 21, 2016 (Rha + PLAYART), July 14 – October 16, 2016 (Alice), http://sima.suwon.go.kr
SIMA is a new museum in Suwon that opened in October 2015. “iPark” is the is an apartment brand launched by Hyundai Development Company in 2001. Prominently featured in the entrance hall of the museum is the Pony Chung memorial that establishes a historical context, worthy to be quoted:
“1796 – 1976. By the time science and Silhak (a Korean Confucian social reform movement) were dawning to pave the way for a new world during the Joseon Dynasty, King Jeongjo planned to establish Hwaseoung Fortress in Suwon based on new scientific understanding. Various technologies, including cable driving system, were used for erecting Hwaseong Fortress. This reduced people’s pain and burden during the construction even while completing the project in about two years.
Pony Chung heralded the launch of the Korean automotive industry with the Pony, the first Korean-developed car model in 1976. Today, the reason Pony Chung Hall is located in Suwon, where King Jeongjo’s dream of reform and creation still lingers is that Pony Chung’s bold initiatives and pioneering spirit are connected with King Jeongjo’s spirit.”
Pony Chung (Chung Se Yung, 1928 – 2005) is the brother of Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung. The Pony car has been produced by Hyundai Motor Company, a subsidiary of Hyundai Group headed by Pony Chung a.k.a. Chung Se Yung since 1967.
The museum is spacious and comfortable, but in terms of the exhibited art, it was obvious that the museum is still looking for its own self-definition, undecided whether it really wants to be an art institution or rather a children’s museum where housewives can gossip over a cup of coffee while their kids play with interactive installations.
Three exhibitions have been mounted. “Donated Works – Rha Hye Sok” contained all in all only three small size paintings (portraits) by Rha (a.k.a. Na Hyesok 나혜석, 1896 – 1948), who is considered the first female (western style) painter in South Korea and who has been born in Suwon. The three paintings have been supplemented by large amounts of text (in Korean), diary entries, personal photographs and some black and white framed photocopies of other paintings reproduced from a vintage catalog of her works. But the overall impression was one of lacking something.
Another show was “Playart” which attempted to investigate the relationship between video games and art. The rationale for bridging art and games has been made through a quick twist in thinking described in the exhibition statement “In this consumption-oriented society where arts are regarded merely as objects to obtain a slight change in mood, to kill time, or as a leisure, artworks can be understood not as the perfect, loftiest outputs derived from gifted talents, but as tools for producing popular pleasure. If art is involved in the production of popular pleasure, it suggests that art can indirectly and directly communicate with various types of games that are capable of continuously producing pleasure.” The exhibition was a direct result of the logic contained in the statement: If art is just an entertainment commodity, then why not turn the whole museum into an assembly of entertaining objects for people to enjoy. There was a mixture of interactive art/games, vintage arcade game machines and paintings inspired by computer games (that appeared as somewhat shabby placeholders in between the much more exciting interactive works). Of course children loved it.
The other exhibition, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Virtual Reality” appeared as a close relative of the “Playart” show. The focus has slightly shifted from computer games towards larger scale immersive video projections and virtual reality goggles (out of service during my visit). Interactive new media works remained as the common denominator of both shows. Once again, the exhibits where eye-catching and easily digestible for an audience of any age. A number of works created in the early 2010’s had the feeling of “retired” media art works – this is where media art ends up after touring all the media art festivals. Undoubtedly these have been good works, but showing the works without context, they appeared as more or less interesting distractions and gadgets, fulfilling the damnation carried out by the above quoted statement.
On my visit during a weekend, the museum was full of children, filled with their shouts and screams. I was one of the few, or maybe the only child-less adult in the museum. Given the nature of the exhibits, this was not surprising, but it really made me wonder whether I have mistakenly wandered into some after-school child care facility, mistaking it for a museum. Being kid-friendly is not a crime for an art museum. For example the Seoul Museum of Art (e.g. my recent visit to SeMA Bukseoul or the G Dragon exhibit last year) very much mastered this approach, finding a right combination of openness and conceptual maturity. SIMA is however just at the start of its journey, burdened with the uneasy heritage of being part of a housing estate and shopping mall developer (besides many other industries). The heavy presence of new media works could be a promise of things to come, but it remains to be seen which direction the museum will take.
