Birth of a Museum: Documenting the Construction of MMCA, Seoul

In order to document the historic construction and opening of MMCA Seoul, a long-term archive project has been carried out, recording the entire process of the construction in great detail. The archive project extensively chronicled the construction of the museum from numerous angles, utilizing a variety of audio-visual media, including photography, video, and sound. Photographic documentation was led by two of Korea’s most renowned photographers, Suntag Noh and Seung Woo Back, for a period of 5 years from the beginning of the construction process in 2009 to the completion in 2013. Video footage of the construction was recorded by Documentarykorea co., Ltd., a documentary production company, from 2010 for 4 years. The sound recording was taken for 2 years since 2012 by the artist Yangachi. An "archive" as well as an artwork, Birth of a Museum traces and projects MMCA's the past, present, and future.

Seung Woo Back received the Grand Prize of the 3rd Photography Criticism Award in 2001 and the 1st Ilwoo Photography Award in 2009. Back uses his camera to uncover the cracks between the virtual and the real, thereby questioning the supposed objectivity, directness, and universality of photographic images. For this project, he strived to document the perpetual changes of the construction site as inexpressively as possible, in order to avoid distorting his subject with his own perspective.

The recipient of Hermes Foundation Misulsang in 2010, Yangachi raises objections to existing political, economic, and social systems through his installations, which can be viewed as “total artworks.” In pursuit of poetic alternatives to straight criticism of the establishment, he devises virtual stories that are expressed through his installation works. Recently, he has become more interested in using sound as his primary medium. In 2012, he began recording sounds related to the museum’s construction, which he has compiled into what might be called a “sound-sculpture.” This remarkable work incorporates the sounds of the past, which he collected during the construction, along with real-time sounds that arise during the exhibition. By mixing and resonating these combined sounds, he offers a highly unique way to revitalize the memory of the past within the present.