Park Chan-kyong, selected as the artist of the MMCA Hyundai Motor Series 2019, is the subject of a solo exhibition titled MMCA Hyundai Motor Series 2019: Park Chan-kyong - Gathering at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (hereafter MMCA), from October 26, 2019. The MMCA Hyundai Motor Series, hosted by the MMCA and sponsored by the Hyundai Motor Company, is a decade-long art project that organizes annual exhibitions of established Korean artists since its launch in 2014. Park Chan-kyong is the sixth artist to have been selected for the series, following the exhibitions of Lee Bul (2014), Ahn Kyuchul (2015), Kimsooja (2016), IM Heung-soon (2017), and CHOIJEONGHWA (2018). Park’s work examines the Korean society, framing the rapid socioeconomic development of the past century while chronicling the often reckless pursuit of Western modernization and economic growth, through subjects including mythology, traditional religions, and the Cold War. For this exhibition, Park questions and critically examines the history and significance of conventionalized westernization of art institutions in Korea and the rest of East Asia.

In this exhibition, Park presents eight new works including the highlight piece Belated Bosal, along with one existing work. Incorporating a ‘frame structure’ that both metaphorically and architecturally manifests itself throughout the exhibition, this exhibition prompts the audience to reexamine art history and art institutions through an unfamiliar perspective. The viewer first encounters Small Museum of Art (2019) which includes photographic reproductions of selected artworks rearranged in an unconventional manner, questioning whether the underlying criteria of the conventional museum setting is a contrived framework implanted in the ways in which we view institutions. Belated Bosal (2019) is a 55-minute film which combines the story of the Buddha’s nirvana with the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, critically examining the potential of an art-language that can be put into practice amidst our society in the aftermath of disasters. Gallery 5 (2019) is a 1/25 miniature model of Gallery 5 in the MMCA Seoul (where Park’s show is held). The model encourages audiences to survey the entirety of the exhibition space and thus reflect on the act of viewing the exhibition. The Water Mark (2019), an installation of 16 cement panels sprawled out on the floor, will serve as the gathering place for lectures and conversations by experts on pertinent subjects that construct the show.. This exhibition, which gestures a gathering where elements of a single show come together to create discussions on art, will remain on view through February 23, 2020.