On My Way To The Museum

Artists: Optical Race, Sunwoo Hoon, Jun Sojung, Everyday Practice, Lee Hansu, Kim Sejin, Cho Youngjoo, Jim Dine, Kim Chonghak, Yun Pilnam, Lee Ufan, Jennifer Steinkamp, Ahn Eum-Me

The Busan Museum of Art presents On my way to the Museum, an exhibition on the theme of “free time,” paying attention to the fact that a contemporary art museum is changing into a social space for people to engage in diverse experiences. It will guide you to relish art through artworks and explore what it means to truly enjoy free time by engaging in wide-ranging programs.

“What does having free time mean to you?” 

Humanity has entered a “Homo Hundred” era, a new era distinguished by the 100-year life span, which sets a new life cycle that breaks away from the previous one. With the extension of human life, we all presuppose life until the age of 100. All generations are subject to a concern about “how to spend a time that has been additionally secured.” As a result, humans have focused on the way of “living well” rather than simply “living longer,” and our attitudes toward society and lifestyle have changed. Individuals have begun to put a higher priority on their daily lives. Work-life balance or WLB in short has become an iconic word to represent the lifestyle of modern people. Spending a given free time well enough brings positive effects—chilling, uplifting and self-development, etc.  We all need our own alternatives to spend a desirable free time in a balanced manner. Spending a fulfilling free time outside of one’s duties and chores confronts many inequalities. There are restrictions on choice depending on region, gender, experience, and income level, and individual tastes for spending their free time may be determined by how algorithms guide them to see.

On my way to the Museum was curated as an attempt to overcome the inequality of leisure activities and show alternative algorithms that the BMA can propose. The museum here functions as a space to enjoy art through appreciation of artworks and a space to explore an individual free time through participation in programs. The exhibition consists of the “Intro” section exploring contemporary phenomena and activities of spending a free time, and “●+●+●,” “●+●,” and “● (“●” in the exhibition is a comprehensive symbol for subjects, people, objects, activities and phenomena, etc)” sections filled with various programs, as well as an artistically fruitful free time that the museum can provide. Additionally, On my way to the Museum runs a program ”Club (a gathering of people to share areas or information of interest)” to help people find “a genuine free time they need.” Clubs with various themes—Learning Club, Stretching Club, Drawing Club, Meditation Club and Movement Club—are available every Wednesday to Saturday. All the programs in On my way to the Museum can be applied for via online reservation (first come, first served), and detailed timelines and content are available on the BMA website.

We wish that On my way to the Museum could serve as a journey to find a genuine free time you need.