What is contemporary art?

I'm on a roll now. Two in one week...

We recently paid a visit to the Seoul contemporary art museum which is south of the city. It's in a strange location; nestled just outside some mountains to the south of the city, next to a zoo, an amusement park, and who knows what else.

Me.

Once safely inside the museum grounds, there is plenty to see along the walk to the front doors. Many statues, some moving, are placed haphazardly throughout the grass, creating the classic contemporary art museum feel. Inside, the central entry room consists of a spiral walkway circling a permanent museum fixture. The installation (sponsored by Samsung) is a 20 or 25 meter high tower of Samsung TV's. The TV's play a series of clips in a loop which made me feel like I was seeing the 20th century in a museum.

Where's my skateboard?

Scaling the beast.

At the time of our visit (no longer, sorry) the guest exhibit featured Korea's artist of the year, Kiwon Park (박기원). He uses space as his medium and makes encompass the space. It's all kind of like glorified interior decoration.

There were three main installations from Kiwon Park, one consisting of large blow up squares, stacked and placed to create a large transparent wall among other things.

Pillows and wires.

Next door to the blow up wall, there was a room full of wire, unraveled to make miscellaneous piles throughout the room.

Art deco.

Third, and in my opinion the masterpiece of the exhibit, was a room covered wall to wall with blue vinyl squares. This was my favorite part of the museum. Sometimes for me art is difficult to embrace because I feel oblivious to the artist's train of thought. In this case, I didn't know what he was thinking, but I could still feel an emotional reaction.

One big pool.

Do I need a swimsuit?

I'm not much of an art museum goer. I have difficulty keeping my attention span longer than the length of most hallways in them. Fortunately this visit was quick enough for me to leave without feeling too drained. Before this visit, I only had a vague idea of what contemporary art is, that's still true. But at least I can now say I've been to a place where they keep it.