“Korea Artist Prize 2023” Installation view at MMCA Seoul ©MMCAThe National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Seoul will host the Korea Artist Prize 2023 from October 20, 2023 to March 31, 2024.
The ‘Korea Artist Prize’ has been an annual art award program co-organized by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art and the SBS Foundation since 2012. For its 10th anniversary in 2022, the organization anticipated changes to the program. This is the first exhibition that reflects these changes. From this exhibition, the scale of each artist’s sponsorship has been expanded, the exhibition will showcase not only new works but also previous major works to enhance the understanding of the artist’s artistic world, and the final jury deliberation has been changed to open dialogue between the jury and the artists. Under these changes, four artists were selected as sponsored artists: Gala Porras-Kim, Sojung Jun, KangSeung Lee, and Byungjun Kwon.
Gallery 2 features works by Gala Porras-Kim and Sojung Jun. Gala Porras-Kim focuses on the ways in which museums and galleries form conventions, and the ways in which artifacts and objects influence the context of the places where they are located. Sojung Jun explores the realm that exists outside the process of modernization, evoking new perceptions and sensations of the present. KangSeung Lee’s works on view in Gallery 3 excavate the narratives of excluded others, paying particular attention to the legacy of transnational queer histories and the intersection of queer history with art history. Byungjun Kwon’s work can be found in Gallery 4, where the artist experiments with robots, sound works, and performance directing to explore the potential for human solidarity and expansion in the community.
