Two Gyeongju museums revisit Korea's cultural legacy through art

As Gyeongju, the ancient capital of the Silla Kingdom (57 BC-AD 935), hosts APEC 2025, two private museums in the city are hosting exhibitions that showcase the depth and breadth of Korea's artistic offerings.

Wooyang Art Museum and Solgeo Art Museum -- designed by renowned Korean architects and located within a 15-minute walk of each other -- are presenting exhibitions that should not be missed.

Wooyang Art Museum, a private museum established in 1991, is home to 14 works by the Korean-born video art pioneer Paik Nam-june. Coinciding with APEC 2025, the museum is highlighting the artist’s legacy with a focus on his works from the 1990s.

“Paik Nam-june saw technology as a medium for human expansion and envisioned an ‘organic circuit’ where art and technology interact. The exhibition aims to offer an artistic platform to contemplate connection and innovation -- the core themes of APEC,” Lee Ji-woo, a curator at the museum, told The Korea Herald.

The highlights of the exhibition are two pieces from Paik’s monumental “My Faust” series. Encapsulating Paik’s worldview, the series comprises 13 pieces of video art inspired by Goethe's "Faust," created between 1989 and 1991.

The complete series was shown at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea in a 1992 exhibition. The pieces were bought by collectors after the show, and among the buyers was the Wooyang Art Museum, which acquired two pieces -- “My Faust: Spirituality” and “My Faust: Economics.”

The pieces were kept in the museum's storage facility and are being shown to the public for the first time in some 30 years.

Resembling an altar, “My Faust: Economics” is 3.1 meters tall and made with stacked TV sets. The altar is decorated with world currencies and shining coins, addressing the intertwined relationship between technology and capital in modern society. Another work, “My Faust: Spirituality,” also altar-like, combines religious symbols and video, expressing Paik’s wish to revive the human spirit lost in modern civilization.

The museum was designed by Korean architect Kimm Jong-soung, who led Korean contemporary architecture as the only Korean to have directly worked with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the influential pioneer of modern architecture

Solgeo Art Museum, designed by Seung H-sang, a leading contemporary architect known for the "aesthetics of poverty," was founded in 2012 following a donation pledged by master Korean painter Park Dae-sung, who has established a unique presence with a distinctive style.

The exhibition “Scent of Korea in Silla” opened on Wednesday, featuring works by four artists, including Park. The painting “Pensive,” unveiled at the exhibition, was newly created by Park for APEC 2025, according to the museum.

“Each artist featured at the exhibition interprets the spirit of Silla and the aesthetics of Buddhism from a different perspective, presenting a harmony of tradition and modernity, material and spirit,” Lee Jae-wook, the curator of the museum, told The Korea Herald.

The Ven. Song Cheon, who practices Buddhist art, expands the techniques of traditional Buddhist painting into a contemporary visual language. Artist Kim Min presents paintings that incorporate gold and silver leaf, as well as traditional pigments, resonating with the historical context of Gyeongju. Craft artist Park Sun-min, meanwhile, explores the cyclical relationship between environment and art through her glass installation works.