The first thought that comes to our mind about art galleries is pictures embraced in a frame hanging on the walls. However, in the Whanki Museum you can experience a new way of understanding art. After going up to the Buam area and passing by many houses surrounded by trees, you will find the Whanki Museum. When stepping into the museum, the fusion of music and visual arts of many artists will be in front of you in different and original styles.

 

   
▲ "Silent Music" by Robin Minard. Photographed by Park Jiwon

Kim Whanki is known as the first pioneer of abstract art in Korea. He has established his own style of this typical art with his perspective, which he has integrated in Korean lyrical feeling and has lead Korea’s modern art history. In the 1960s he developed his sensitive art philosophy by focusing on dot, line, and face, which are the fundamental elements of the formation of art. Here, the Wanki Museum was established by the Whanki Foundation to introduce Kim Whanki’s art world, but also to give opportunities for young and original artists to present their art world to the public as well.

The museum offered the first space project titled “The Poetics of Space: Transparency and Virtuality” in 2006. From sophisticated art works decorating the blank space, it demolished the boundaries of space and made a new concept where every aspect of space can be interrelated. The next space project was in 2011 titled “Site Whanki_ that world, day and night.” This project became more dynamic, crossing over a diverse genre of art. This year, the Whanki museum presents the 2014 Space Project titled “Site Whanki_Wave.” This space project is somewhat similar to Kim Whanki’s art philosophy of concentrating on the essential elements of formation but interconnecting the past and present; analogue and digital.

   

▲ 2014 Space Project Site Whank_Wave. Photographed by Park Jiwon

 
The main theme of the project is “healing, affirmation, and communication.” Robin Minard and Bae Junhwan, and duo groups “Kimchi & Chips” and “Caitlind Brown & Wayne Garrett” elaborated their art works of this theme in their own styles, using diverse materials. When you first enter the museum, you will see the art works of Robin Minard first. In his artwork “Silent Music,” he has tried to give a moment for the audience to cure any kind of stress that the busy society has brought. As the title suggests, you will hear soft music coming from the earphones that are surrounding all the walls of the room. This soft music or the feeling of vibration keeps the audience more focused.
 
   
▲ "Link" by Kimchi & Chips. Photographed by Park Jiwon

The phrase “silence can sometimes be louder than noise” is just the right description of this work. By concentrating on the quiet sound, the audience extends this music and connects it to their life. The rhythm and the tempo in the music that travel through your ears are similar to the beats of your heart and your breath. In the middle of the room, you will feel that you are integrated with the space of art and that you are part of the art work.

After exploring the world of Robin Minard’s “Silent Music,” you will step on to the second floor and experience the digitalized world made from Kimchi & Chips, who are English artist Elliot Woods and Korean artist Son Mimi. They have created lines in three-dimensional ways inside the room using a light beam coming from the projection located in the upper corner. This beam of light and the sound of waves getting louder and louder, then gradually getting smaller, go well together. Kimchi & Chips also tried to integrate the analogical aspect and high-technology together in a different work.

In their work, titled “Link,” they have related paper boxes and videos of the audiences shoot from the projection. In each box, you will be able to find the audience who visited the museum and also yourself after recording yourself. Even when you have never met those people on the boxes, the art work makes you feel that all those people are linked together.

Going out of the museum, you will see the works of Bae Jungwan. He has embodied the symbols and images of communion using sunlight. This can be the connection of past, present, and future. However, the art works are not all. On December 20, there is a performance ready to celebrate Christmas. With pre-registration on the Whanki Museum web page, you are able to see the performance of Ccotbyel & Cho Yonguk, Kim Oan, and Park Kyungso with the art works.

It is surprising how a simple form can deliver so many messages to the audience in different ways. Usually, a complicated and elaborated version of things covers the pure meaning. However, in the art works presented in Whanki Musuem, the simplest forms have integrated many hearttouching meanings that only the ones who are genuinely absorbed in the space that the artists provided can appreciate the real meaning of “healing, affirmation, and communication.”

저작권자 © The Granite Tower 무단전재 및 재배포 금지