Ulsan Art Museum (director Hong-ki Chae) announced at a press conference on January 10 that it has confirmed its major exhibition plan for 2024.

Ulsan Art Museum, which celebrated the third year of its opening this year, aims to be an ‘art museum specializing in media art’ with the identity of the industrial city of Ulsan, and is the only public art museum in Korea to have an extended reality lab (XR lab), which is an immersive media art hall that offers virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and extended reality (EX) experiences.

Based on its operational performance, Ulsan Art Museum will present four large-scale exhibitions, two exhibitions for children, and three exhibitions in the XR Lab. The main exhibition directions this year are: first, an exhibition that holistically examines the flow of modern and contemporary art in Korea; second, a special exhibition on graffiti that explores the possibilities of urban art in Ulsan; and third, a special exhibition on media.

In March, the museum will present the exhibition “Currents of Korean Modern and Contemporary Art,” a selection of masterpieces of Korean modern and contemporary art. The exhibition brings together masterpieces from the history of Korean art, including works by Kim EunHo, Byeon Kwan-sik, KIM Whanki, and Lee Ungno, and will showcase the Lee Kun-hee Collection alongside the main collection of the national and public museums. At the press conference, Hong-ki Chae, director of the Ulsan Art Museum, said, “Thanks to the response we received from the public to the Lee Kun-hee Collection last year, we have focused on an exhibition that will explore the flow of modern Korean painting.” In addition, a theme exhibition that captures various parts of Ulsan in the field of visual arts such as Korean painting, Western painting, and sculpture, and aims to explore the origin and character of Ulsan art will be held in March.

In June, the international exhibition of urban art will be held. The exhibition will feature international contemporary artists in the field of urban art, including Jon0ne, ZEVS, VHILS, and Thoma Vuille, and will feature a variety of works including paintings, sculptures, videos, and installations. The exhibition highlights the art historical value of urban art, which began with graffiti, and explores the possibilities of urban art in Ulsan.

In November, the exhibition “Artificial Intelligence and Art (working title)” will be held, exploring the use and meaning of artificial intelligence in contemporary art.

For the children’s exhibition, Yang Jung Uk’s solo exhibition will be held from March to September. The exhibition will feature sculptures and installations, including participatory artworks. The exhibition will stimulate the analog sensibilities of children and families through works thatexpress everyday stories in the form of moving sculptures and guide them into the world of humanistic thought. From October to March next year, the exhibition “Animal Figurine Sculptures (working title)” will be held. This exhibition reminds children of the coexistence of animals and humans through animal sculptures.

For the XR Lab exhibition, Ulsan Art Museum has organized an encore program that selects works that have received great response from audiences since its opening. In February, the exhibition “XR Lab Review (working title)” will showcase Aldo Tambellini’s “Black and Light” and other artworks by two artists. In May, the exhibition “Mysterious Memory (working title)” will be on view. This is an exhibition of immersive digital content based on the whale, the symbol of Ulsan, where visitors can feel the environment and history of the city. The final exhibition of the year at XR Lab will be “Maritime City Future Theme Immersive Video Exhibition (working title)”, which will open in October and explore the possibility of an alternative future as a maritime city through the interaction of art and science.

Moreover, Ulsan Art Museum will continue to operate its programs connected to exhibition and collection education programs regularly this year following last year, and will also strengthen cultural and art education programs for infants (including pregnant women), children, youth, and adults. In particular, this year, the museum will collaborate with the Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education and the Ulsan University College of Fine Arts to provide customized education for students to make them more interested in art.

References

• 울산매일, 미디어 줄이고 회화전시 무게 … 전세대 아우르는 미술관으로, 2024.01.10
• 울산시립미술관(Ulsan Art Museum)