The Museum of Art (MoA) celebrates the opening of the museum building designed by the renowned architect Rem Koolhaas, as well as the inaugural exhibition entitled Invitation to Modern Art.

The exhibit is organized to familiarize the public of what is considered to be the greatest mystery in the history of art, namely, the Modern Art. The exhibit will offer an enlightening journey into the world of contemporary art.

The exhibition is composed of four categories,"Formalist Abstraction","Repetition Compulsion","Machinic Aesthetic", and"Representational Urge".

These four categories relate to the visual characteristics of the work, yet each implicates social and political environment in which the works were created.

"Formalist Abstraction" includes works by Bernar Venet, Kim Gui-Line, Yoo Young-Kuk, Morris Louis, Frank Stella, Richard Long, and Choi In-Su.

"Repetition Compulsion" includes Lee Ufan, Kim Whanki, Noh Sang Kyoon, Ross Bleckner, Suh Se-ok, and Allan McCollum.
 
"Machinic Aesthetic" includes Dan Flavin, Robert Rauschenberg, Nam June Paik, Jenny Holzer, Sol LeWitt, Moon Beom, Peter Halley, Sang Nam Lee, and Tai-Jung Um.
 
"Representational Urge" includes George Segal, Joseph Beuys, Anselm Kiefer, Georg Baselitz, Jurg Immendorff, Marcus Lepertz, and A.R. Penck.

It is commonly thought that some of the art objects made in the past fifty years seem cryptic or unintelligible, or in some cases, simply not artistic enough. As art progressed further into the realm of Modern Art, it has become necessary for the spectators to actively participate in the viewing process, often with some background knowledge of how the art has been made, or how it should be looked at.

MoA acknowledges and pursues a broader educational purpose of a university museum, and will try to make the exhibition accessible to the public that ranges from scholars to young children by providing exhibition essays and wall texts based on simple and practical discussion of how to look at Modern Art.

June 7, 2006
SNU PR Office