Korea Artist Prize becomes must-see exhibition at MMCA after renewal

Once shunned by art enthusiasts for its quality, the National Museum of Contemporary Art's annual Korea Artist Prize exhibition is now drawing noticeably bigger audiences this year as it honors four promising artists.

Acknowledging the criticism the 12-year-old prize had received for its low recognition and exhibition quality, the museum decided to overhaul the process starting last year. The renewed show now includes major works from each artist’s earlier career along with new commissioned works. The winner selection process was also expanded by opening dialogues between the judges, artists, and critics.

The museum further changed the curation for this year's exhibition, bringing the four artists’ work together in a single space so audiences can navigate through the works coherently instead of showcasing artists in separate galleries as had been done in past years.

This year's selected artists – Yoon Ji-young, Kwon Ha-youn, Yang Jung-uk and Jane Jin Kaisen – use different mediums to explore psychological dynamics, everyday life, historical memory, myth and ritual, making the exhibition more diverse and thought-provoking.

As a sculptor and installation artist, Yoon captures the moments when she encounters something that gives her a peculiar sense of discomfort – typically social narratives or cultural assumptions that people take for granted. The artist’s “Yellow Blues_” consists of a series of works depicting the state of heightened self-consciousness experienced during the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kwon offers a new experience of memories by enlisting virtual reality technology to reexamine the concepts of memory and recording. Her new work “The Guardians of Jade Mountain” is a VR installation that transcends reality, fiction, history and memory to examine the concept of the “enemy.”

Yang creates kinetic installations, visualizing stories – specifically the stories of people around him – with the concept of “repetitive actions.” The kinetic installation “A Cherishing Heart” is about his married life. It was inspired by the dialogue between two family members who slowly become unified through repetitive actions that make them understand one another.

Kaisen is known for her poetic, performative video works, which boast a powerful visual impact. For this exhibition, she presents “Ieodo (Island Beyond the Sea),” a series of seven video works, including three new creations. This exhibition marks the first time that “Ieodo” is being presented in its entirety.

Based on longstanding collaborations with Jeju Island’s local community, it offers a condensed glimpse at Kaisen’s multilayered research into the island’s nature, history, culture and contemporary issues.

The exhibition runs through March 23 and the winner will be announced in February 2025. The Korea Artist Prize was inaugurated in 2012.