The First Large-Scale Korean Modern and Contemporary Calligraphy Exhibition Opens in Taiwan... "Expecting Cultural and Artistic Synergy"

National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art 'Art Museum eoseo: Korean Modern and Contemporary Calligraphy Exhibition'
Held until October 21 at Taoyuan City Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan

The large-scale exhibition introducing Korean calligraphy and culture to Taiwan, "At the Museum 書: Korean Modern and Contemporary Calligraphy Exhibition," has opened successfully.

The local exhibition hall view of 'Calligraphy in the Museum_ Korean Modern and Contemporary Calligraphy Exhibition' opened at Taoyuan City Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan.
[Photo by National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art]

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) announced on the 11th that about 300 people, including domestic and international stakeholders as well as media from Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, attended the opening ceremony and press preview held on the 5th at the Hsing Shan Calligraphy Art Museum of the Taoyuan City Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan.

The opening ceremony featured a Gayageum Sanjo performance celebrating Korean calligraphy and an impromptu performance by a Taiwanese contemporary dancer. Following this, exhibition curator Wonjeong Bae provided an exhibition commentary that received enthusiastic responses from the audience.

This exhibition is the first large-scale Korean calligraphy exhibition held in Taiwan, and the opening event was evaluated as clearly demonstrating the local high interest in Korean culture.

Commemorative photo of the opening ceremony of the exhibition "Calligraphy in the Museum_ Korean Modern and Contemporary Calligraphy Exhibition" held at the Taoyuan City Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan.
[Photo by National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art]

The opening ceremony was attended by key figures in the art world of Korea and Taiwan, including Kim Seonghee, Director of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art; Zhang Zimin, Acting Director of the Taoyuan City Museum of Fine Arts; Lee Eunho, Representative of the Korean Representative Office in Taipei; Qiu Zhengsheng, Director of the Taoyuan City Cultural Affairs Bureau; artists Lee Ilgu and Kim Jonggeon; Lu Hueiwen, Director of the Institute of Art History at National Taiwan University; and Huang Ziyang, Dean of the College of Fine Arts at Huafan University.

The exhibition was planned after the Taoyuan City Museum of Fine Arts officials viewed the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art’s YouTube video of the Deoksugung Hall exhibition, which had opened online in 2020 due to COVID-19, and proposed a traveling exhibition.

This exhibition comprehensively covers the flow of modern and contemporary Korean calligraphy and its development process, showcasing about 90 works by 37 artists, including representative pieces by calligraphy masters such as Sojeon Son Jaehyung and Yeocho Kim Eung-hyun, as well as seal carving, painting, sculpture, and media art.

On the 6th, an international forum linked to the exhibition, "Asian Calligraphy Art: Boundaries of Modern and Contemporary," was held at the International Lecture Hall of the Children’s Art Museum affiliated with the Taoyuan City Museum of Fine Arts. The forum featured presentations by three Korean researchers?Kim Isun (former professor at Hongik University), Kim Hyunkwon (curator at Daegu Kansong Museum), and Moon Junghui (associate professor at National Tainan University, Taiwan)?and two Taiwanese researchers?Shen Yuchang (assistant professor at National Tainan University, Taiwan) and Huang Bohao (assistant professor at National Taipei University of Education, Taiwan)?creating a platform for discourse on Asian calligraphy.

Exhibition hall view before the opening ceremony of 'Calligraphy in the Museum_ Korean Modern and Contemporary Calligraphy Exhibition' held at Taoyuan City Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan.
[Photo by National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art]

Zhang Zimin, Acting Director of the Taoyuan City Museum of Fine Arts, said, "Although Korea and Taiwan are neighbors with many historical commonalities such as war and reconstruction, there has been little active cultural exchange so far. We hope this calligraphy exhibition will be a signal for active exchanges toward the joint development of art and culture between Korea and Taiwan."

Kim Seonghee, Director of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, stated, "We are pleased to have opened the door to cooperation between the two institutions through this exhibition, and we look forward to creating synergistic effects that can promote the development of Korean calligraphy and culture as well as East Asian cultural arts in the future."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.