There is a special exhibition going on at MMCA, which reopened in July: PROJECT HASHTAG 2020, a joint program of the museum and Hyundai aimed at finding and supporting next-generation creators. Here are the artworks of two winning teams, GANGNAMBUG and Seoul Queer Collective.
There is a special exhibition going on at National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA), which re-opened recently. It’s “PROJECT HASHTAG 2020,” an exhibition showing progressive ideas of creators.
PROJECT # is an innovative contest devised to discover and support next-generation creators. The program encourages multidisciplinary collaborations and provides exhibition opportunities for two winning teams selected annually.
The first winning teams, GANGNAMBUG and Seoul Queer Collective (SQC), proposed projects focusing on a specific district in Seoul: Gangnam and Jongno 3-ga areas, respectively. Let’s take a closer look on their artworks.
GANGNAMBUG
GANGNAMBUG - GANGNAMBUS
GANGNAMBUS is an interactive bus tour, running from an apartment in Apgujeong to Gangnam station. At each stop, the tour guides assume different roles as actors, singing instructors, and working mothers, in order to share unique stories about the respective areas.
GANGNAMBUG - Win, Lose or Draw: The Drawing Competition
Win, Lose or Draw: The Drawing Competition is a participatory competition, in which visitors are asked to draw a plaster cast within a time limit. The drawings are then posted online, where they are ranked by people’s votes. This process reminds of the past standard entrance exams for art school.
GANGNAMBUG - Anesthesia Gangnam
Since the 1970s, the district of Gangnam has rapidly developed into one of the world’s busiest urban and commercial centers. Anesthesia Gangnam looks into the ideas of the architects at the time by examining architecture that exists only as paper, in the form of plans, blueprints, and photographs of structures that were never realized or have already been torn down.
Seoul Queer Collective
Seoul Queer Collective - Seoul Queer Collective Seminars
Seoul Queer Collective is hosting four seminars through the course of this project, focusing on minority issues. The fourth seminar in August will propose a new perspective for establishing an urban community that nurtures the daily lives of “urban queers.”
Seoul Queer Collective - Others, Jongno 3-ga
Others, Jongno 3-ga is a book publication that recreates a walk through Jongno 3-ga, combining newly interpreted visual materials with the stories, thoughts, and experiences of the neighborhood’s diverse inhabitants.
Seoul Queer Collective - Flat-Overlapped
Flat-Overlapped attempts to expand the general conception of Jongno 3-ga through an interactive online project, where people can share their own response to the statement "My Jongno 3-ga is ___."
Seoul Queer Collective - Chronology of Others
By juxtaposing the history of others from the Jongno 3-ga area with the world and national history that we are generally taught, this timeline attempts to locate the stories of others within the grand narrative. The audience is encouraged to participate by adding their own history to the timeline.
“PROJECT HASHTAG 2020” shows experimental ideas and new perspectives on specific districts in Seoul. A curator-guided exhibition tour can also be viewed on MMCA’s youtube channel, enabling a safe and accessible way to experience art.
※ Visiting audience can refer to the information on the webpage of MMCA, Korea.(www.mmca.go.kr)