MMCA New Media Collection: Otherlands

MMCA New Media Collection: Otherlands has been organized to introduce the new media art in the collection of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA). It centers on works by the artists Doug Aitken, Eija-Liisa Ahtila, and Jennifer Steinkamp that have been donated to the MMCA in the last five years. The exhibition aims to spread awareness of the meaning and value of donation and to illuminate contemporaneous trends in new media art. 

Nature is central to the works by all three artists. Underwater Pavilions (2017) by Doug Aitken allows viewers to experience shifting underwater landscapes through pavilion sculptures installed beneath the ocean. Horizontal-Vaakasuora (2011) by Eija-Liisa Ahtila captures changes in the wind, clouds, and light around a giant spruce tree. Still-Life 3 (2019) by Jennifer Steinkamp presents a virtual scene in which flowers and fruit in a still-life painting appear alive and seem to be moving. Concentrating on the flowers, trees, oceans, and forests in these works encourages viewers to feel like a part of nature as they appreciate it in a meditative state.

The exhibition also highlights the meaning of the diverse spaces addressed in the works by the three artists. The pieces by Aitken and Ahtila examine the significance of spaces where human beings coexist with nature. The creation by Steinkamp deals with a space within a still-life, a virtual space, and a women’s space. The multilayered spatial and temporal worlds of the past, present, and future that are presented in these works are referred to in this exhibition as the “otherlands,” indicating another space or world. The works by the three artists show us familiar spaces, yet remind us of other distinct worlds. It is hoped that this exhibition can offer an intriguing opportunity for visitors to encounter the other lands suggested by the three international new media artists and find their own other land in the process.