Inside the campus of Korea University (KU), there are many state-of-the-art facilities. While the Business School’s Hyundai Motor Business Hall or LG-POSCO Hall may be what immediately spring to a KU student’s mind, KU’s awe-inspiring facilities do not end there. KU provides facilities not only for the education of the students, but also for their rich and varied cultural lives. The problem: KU students are not taking advantage of them.

Amongst many, the KU Museum and the KU Cinema Trap are the two most well-known facilities that KU provides for its students. Although inside the campus, they are comparable to ones outside the campus. The KU Museum often holds exhibitions that receive nationwide attention, such as those of national treasures and overseas artists. The KU Cinema Trap also has a system and quality of projection that are not inferior to commercial theaters, and its cinema festivals are substantial and rich in content.

▲ The KU Cinema Trap, an on-campus cinema is located in the Media Hall. Photographed by Song You Jin

Located in the Centennial Memorial SAMSUNG Hall, the KU Museum is funded by the university. When it was first built in 1943 at the current KU Graduate School library site, it was the precursor of Korea’s university museums. Currently, the

KU Museum has four floors with each exhibition covering a different theme—the university’s history, the history and folklore of Korea, contemporary and modern art, and one for “special exhibitions” which sometimes last for as long as four months.

Meanwhile, on the fourth floor of the Media Hall is an oncampus cinema, the KU Cinema Trap. The movies at KU’s cinema are not the commercial, blockbuster movies one would see in a downtown cinema. Rather, the KU Cinema Trap is mostly reserved for art films, presenting independent films from Korea and overseas. “We want to ensure that the audience is given a more diverse, wider range of movies to choose from, instead of being affiliated with commercial interests,” says Kim Sun-suk, manager of the KU Cinema Trap.

Yet, statistics tell us that students tend not to take advantage of the facilities provided to them. At the KU Museum, the number of KU student visitors has been on the rise, except when the numbers for most exhibitions experienced a sharp fall in 2013. The rise in numbers, however, is only an illusion; while they are the ones who can access the museum most easily, KU students constitute less than 20 percent of the total visitors at the museum. “These numbers are rising, but it is very unfortunate that not too many are using the museum,” says Seo Jae-won, a manager at the KU Museum.

The situation is not much different for the KU Cinema Trap. “There are about 140 seats in the cinema, and only 40 to 50 are occupied by students at KU on the weekdays,” says Kim. The numbers are not much different during the weekends.

Students simply seem to lack interest in these cultural services provided by the university. “I knew that we had a museum and a cinema on campus,” says Oh Doeun (’13, Statistics), “but it had never occurred to me that I should go visit them.” The situation is worse for science major students, whose campus is separated from the liberal arts campus in which these two facilities are located. “I know that we have those facilities, but I do not know exactly where the museum and the cinema are,” confesses Jeong Yoon Kyo (’13, Biotechnology).

“It seems to me that there just is not enough publicity about these facilities,” Jeong continues. In fact, the public relations of the museum and the cinema have not been very successful so far. The KU Cinema Trap and the KU Museum continue to advertise their exhibits through social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, but students do not connect to the facilities on social media. With little information about what kind of exhibits and movies are on show, they opt for ones outside that are more widely known.

At the same time, students are not without responsibility. Some are too occupied to spend their time there. As Seo explains, “Students cannot afford to visit these facilities because they are too busy with their studies and preparation for the job market.” Some, on the other hand, are simply uninterested in history or the arts. For them, these areas are just not very down-to-earth. “We have been focusing too much on the pedagogic aspect of our museum,” Seo admits, “but we also want to provide a refuge for students seeking for a place to relax at school.”

Still, there are some students who take advantage of these facilities. Park Boseong (’12, Public Administration) shares his experience of going to the museum. “When I first visited the museum, I was surprised that we had a museum so well organized and rich in content,” he says. He recommends fellow students to pay a visit to the museum. “KU students are privileged because they can enjoy these historical objects or art exhibits on campus.”

Currently, other than its usual exhibitions of Korean history and contemporary art, a special exhibition, “Color of Life,” by the French artist Jean-Marie Haessle is on show until mid-May. And as it has been for the past few years, the KU Cinema Trap also boasts its diverse collection of movies, including newly released movies and indie films. The KU Museum and the KU Cinema Trap could be a haven for KU students.

▲ 1 The KU Cinema Trap's indie films allure KU's moviegoers. Provided by the KU Cinema Trap2 The KU Cinema Trap's projection system and quality are comparable to those of commercial theaters. Photographed by Song You Jin3 The KU Museum is located in the Centennial Memmorial SAMSUNG Hall. Photographed by Song You Jin4, 5 The KU Museum's current special exhibition is "Color of Life" by Jean-Marie Haessle. Photographed by Song You Jin