Along with a new permanent exhibition, the museum is showing Pierre Huyghe's first Asia exhibition 'Liminal'
The Leeum Museum of Art has unveiled a permanent exhibition of its modern and contemporary art collection, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Samsung Foundation of Culture.
“The newly opened exhibition focuses on sculpture. More than half of the works on display are being shown to the public for the first time,” said Kim Sung-won, deputy director of the museum. The exhibition “Leeum Collection Display” shows some 44 works, including rarely exhibited pieces and recently acquired ones.
“Rather than categorizing them into themes or genres, we wanted to provide an opportunity for visitors to explore works in their own way, and observe how some works can create synergy by being shown together,” Kim added.
Some may find it interesting to see how two seemingly unrelated artists share common artistic expressions. Two paintings, both named “untitled,” created by Latvian American artist Mark Rothko (1903-1970) and Korean modern artist Chang Uc-chin (1917-1990), are on display side by side.
The two abstract works -- Rothko’s yellowish oil painting and Chang’s dark oil painting -- invite viewers to ponder the stylistic similarities of the paintings and how they differ when it comes to the artists’ intention.
“The Burghers of Calais” by Auguste Rodin, “Grand Woman III” by Alberto Giacometti and “We the People (detail)” by Danh Vo are prominently displayed as though the sculptures epitomize the history of the museum’s collection of modern and contemporary art.
Coinciding with the collection show, the museum is hosting French artist Pierre Huyghe’s first Asia solo exhibition in collaboration with Punta della Dogana of the Pinault Collection. The exhibition, titled “Liminal,” meaning a “transitory state from which something unthought-of can emerge,” shows the past decade of the artist's career through 12 works, including newly created pieces.
As soon as one steps into the exhibition hall, a few minutes are needed to adjust to the complete darkness in which the media works “Liminal” and “Human Mask” are playing, provoking thoughts on the boundaries between reality and fiction as well as between humans and non-humans.
“My work revolves around fundamental and universal questions about human existence and the exploration of its archetypes. I believe that an exhibition should pose questions about these ideas,” the artist said in a written note to the press.
Visitors can also experience another media work, titled “Camata,” which depicts a machine performing an enigmatic ritual centered around an unburied human skeleton discovered in the Chilean Atacama Desert.
Comparing the Leeum show to his previous exhibition at the Punta della Dogana in Venice, Huyghe said, “In this exhibition at the Leeum Museum of Art, I was able to design the display in a way that allows for a sense of circulation and organic relationships between the works — something that was not possible due to the architectural limitations of Punta della Dogana in Venice,” the artist said.
The exhibition "Liminal" runs through July 6.
yunapark@heraldcorp.com
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