MOCA Taipei is showing an exhibition of Korean contemporary art. It is quite a comprehensive selection, ranging across media, from sculpture to video art to painting. This breadth means that there is a bit less depth. This on turn is made up by the thematic selection according to the P.O.P. acronym. The attempt to push a new meaning into P.O.P – Process, Otherness, Play – while staying sexy enough for the poster (K-Pop is hot) felt a bit forced to me. An unneeded justification – for me – but probably important for the museum marketing to a general audience. In the exhibition, I could not really distinguish which work belonged to which of the three sections, and the keyword selection seems to have been steered by the available letters of the alphabet rather than the works themselves.
The exhibition layout has been done in ‘apartment style’, with separate rooms or partitions reserved for individual artist’s works. This was partially dictated by the architecture of MOCA (a historical building), but it was further enhanced by built in partitions. This was good to give an undisturbed presence to each artwork, but it disabled the creation of possible links in the audience’s mind. The visitor flow was strictly linear, on one path from entrance to exit. The installation was clean and all (all media art!) was working properly, which can be either interpreted as a small miracle, or as a really professional work of the exhibition team.
I missed individual printed out labels for works. There were LCD displays with this information, but they were animated and usually 2-3 artist’s info was circulating on them. This was annoying, as I am just interested in the artist’s name, and not some animated version of the artwork I can see live in the same room. A piece of paper on the wall (or a static white text on the black screen) would be easier, and better. Similarly I missed a simple paper handout with information about the artists. Instead an audio-guide (as mp3 download or as an mp3 player loan) was available, also a welcome idea, but rather directed at the popular masses than the professional artist minority (like me).
On the other hand, I found the website really useful and informative. The amount of information on the website was quite extensive, including high resolution images (exhibition views) of each artist’s work and artist profiles. The curatorial text was dwarfed by all the artist informations. As MOCA publishes exhibition catalogues only after the show, the website was a great resource complementing the audio guide. When I think of it as a whole, I am guessing MOCA is following a ‘green’ paperless course with digital labels, downloadable audio guides and a comprehensive website instead of printing on paper.
It’s an exhibition targeted at a general audience, conforming to the traditional notion of displaying ‘objects of art’ and letting the audience observe them. If we can accept this, then the show is good and well balanced. For the more advanced audience looking beyond eye candy, there will be a slight feeling of lack left behind.
Regarding the works on show – MOCA website is here for you – so I don’t need to say more about it.