Gaze Your Way Through Korea’s Trendy Art Museums

Travelling to Korea is a world of aesthetics, only if you go to where the MZ Generation are flocking to. Go straight to Seongsu-dong, and you’ll find pop up shops within walking distance from each other. Although, it’s something that many Koreans only know about, there is in fact, a place where foreigners are now visiting, and that’s art museums and exhibitions! 

Leeum Museum of Art

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Famous among foreigners, Leeum Museum of Art has even more foot traffic than Namsan Seoul Tower. Funnily enough, they are located in the same district, Yongsan-gu. But after scrolling through all the pretty Tiktok videos of this museum, I can totally see why! To start, there are technically two museums located in one building. Museum One shows off Korea’s traditional art. You’ll find 36 pieces deemed national treasures, folk paintings, ceramics, sculptures and more! Museum Two offers the modern and contemporary side of Korean art. Designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, it features both Korean and foreign artists. As you look around, the interior design perfectly fits in with the placed art which literally completes the term ‘art museum’ in my eyes. Every aspect of Leeum Museum of Art creates content both Insta and TikTok-worthy! 

Daelim Art Museum 

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I feel like even if you walk by the Daelim Art Museum, you’ll immediately feel entranced by the exterior and want to head in straight away. Upon the vivid-coloured stained glass windows, you can see a huge poster showing the exhibition that’s currently running. They’ve even done an exhibition collaboration with Gucci called ‘No Space, Just a Place!.’ This year’s spring season, they put on ‘Spring Breeze,’ with countless light displays and beautiful floral photo galleries taking up each room. Recently they held ‘White Lab’ to showcase different artists and brands’ designs for different categories like knitting and cutlery. Currently, Daelim Art Museum is closed but I’m sure when they are open, ready for their next exhibition, it’ll be yet another amazing one! 

Ground Seesaw

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There’s a few locations for Ground Seesaw but Seocheon is where everyone seems to visit. What I love about Ground Seesaw’s Seocheon location is the entrance of the building. There’s actually an open outdoor space that has become a hot photo spot! A piloti-structured architecture sits among greenery and even a pond. There’s a terrace too where you can see views of Seocheon and Inwangsan Mountain. All Ground Seesaw museums focus more on modern arts that use light, paint or are photography-based, and sometimes, interactive too. With each location, Ground Seesaw holds different-themed exhibitions for you to pick and choose from, or you can take a visit to all four locations and see how each differ! 

Random Diversity

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Random Diversity is the name of an exhibition created by Chun Young-hwan. It’s everything you would NOT expect from an Art Museum. In fact, it’s very conceptual! It explores the connection between people’s emotions and colour using emotional computer algorithms. This generates unique colours creating a more immersive art exhibition. Sounds unique, right? It’s the reason why when Random Diversity opens up an exhibition, so many people make it a must-visit! One of the most talked about pieces was the “Emotion Vaccine Frame,” which was part of their collaboration with LOTTE Cinema, utilising their Cinema World Tower. Wearing VR glasses, you’re given a video to watch showing many circular dots that change colours. Your emotions are then measured and represented by brain waves triggered when watching the video. That’s not all though! Once you have completed this activity, you receive a vial containing your own unique colour. This colour is said to resemble ‘a bottle of consumable emotions.’ Unique exhibits like this are why so many Korean Youtubers vlog their experience at an Random Diversity exhibition. Though we aren’t there to experience it in person, these vlogs will definitely show you how cool it is! 

 With many art museums and exhibitions in Korea that differs from New Zealand, it’s a full day to spark your creativity! No wonder these art museums and exhibitions have gone viral even for those living outside of Korea. Of course, there are the more traditional museums that pop up when you search ‘things to do in Korea,’ but don’t forget these art museums that specifically target the MZ Generation when you do your travels!