A museum that looks to the future, the MMCA – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art continues to grow by promoting modern and contemporary art throughout South Korea. Discover more about exhibitions and museum worldwide by reading through our magazine.
Founded in 1969 the MMCA is divided into four "branches": the headquarters in Gwacheon opened in 1986, in Deoksugung (1998), Sin Seoul (2013) and now a new one in Cheongju. Each branch has a specific area of interest: the MMCA Gwacheon is dedicated to architecture, design, and crafts; the MMCA Deoksugung to the modern art of Korea and overseas. In Seoul, the museum's focus is on international contemporary art.
With the new Cheongju space, the MMCA aims to collect, preserve, study and exhibit its own collections.
After signing an agreement with the city of Cheongju, the MMCA has renovated the 20,000 square meters of a historic ex-tobacco factory, converting it into exhibition space and research centre. Since its foundation in 1946 (after the liberation of Korea) this important industrial structure was a source of livelihood for the residents of Cheongju and drove the economy of the entire region until being deemed obsolete in 2004. The site was neglected for 14 years before being transformed into MMCA Cheongju, a cultural institution with the capacity to preserve and display as many as 11,000 works of art.
The Cheongju MMCA is spread over five floors, each one with precise functions and structures. The first floor is for the deposit’s sculptures and major works, the hall and the artistic area. The second floor includes the paper works room, a visitor rest area, and storage area. On the third and fourth floors, there are other rooms used for the conservation of works, including an area dedicated to photography. Finally, on the fifth floor, there is a special exhibition hall.
At the moment A Day for Counting Stars is underway: The Story of You and Me, an exhibition inaugurated on December 27th at the opening of the museum and open until June 16th. The exhibition includes 23 works of painting, sculpture and video art from the museum's collection, made, among others, by Kang Ikjoong, Kim Sooja, Kim Eull, Im Heungsoon and Jung Yeondoo. As a representative of MMCA declared:
Starting from the second half of 2019, another exhibition of works from the MMCA collection will present works by Lee Jungsup, Kim Whanki, and other modern authors. With the opening of MMCA Cheongju, the MMCA will start running a four-seat system. In time for the 50th anniversary of the MMCA in 2019, the opening of the Cheongju headquarters represents a milestone in the expansion of MMCA from the capital to the rest of the country.
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