"Grass Man" by Gosari (Courtesy of the artist)
"Grass Man" by Gosari (Courtesy of the artist)

What happens after an exhibition ends is largely invisible to museumgoers — where do materials go, what is stored and what becomes waste?

As concerns over climate change grow, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea has brought the often-overlooked “afterlife” of exhibitions to the forefront with its first exhibition of the year, “Sak-da: The Poetics of Decomposition.”

“The exhibition looks at how artworks are changing in response to growing environmental awareness and explores new ways museums can adapt to those changes,” said MMCA director Kim Sung-hee.

The exhibition questions the long-standing belief that artworks must remain unchanged and preserved indefinitely, a principle that has shaped museum practices and collection systems.

By embracing materials that change or decay, the museum proposes an alternative to the museum’s preservation-heavy system.

"Witnesses/Testigues" by Dan Lie (Courtesy of the artist and Museu Habitat)
"Witnesses/Testigues" by Dan Lie (Courtesy of the artist and Museu Habitat)

The exhibition opens by focusing on how artworks that continue and change over time. This is highlighted by the work of American artist Asad Raza, which turns locally collected waste into “neosoil,” fertile soil made from urban waste.

Works range from Chilean poet and artist Cecilia Vicuna’s delicate sculptures made from beach debris to Japanese artist Yuko Mohri’s installation, where energy from rotting fruit produces light, sound and movement.

In the museum courtyard, grass figures by Gosari and an earth-based work by Kim Juri slowly change shape over time, suggesting that breakdown can also lead to new growth.

The exhibition is organized into four sections: “Prologue,” “Act 1: Moments of Becoming,” “Interlude” and “Act 2: Sympoietic Landscape." It presents some 50 works by 15 artists and collectives from Korea and abroad.

The exhibition runs through May 3.


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