National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art to Lease Storage Space Next Year with 400 Million Won Budget..."Storage Capacity Exceeded, Reaching Saturation"

The 'Lee Kun-hee Collection' stored in the storage room of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon.

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] A red light has been turned on in the storage facility holding a total of 10,624 artworks at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA).

According to data obtained on the 1st by Rep. Hyungdoo Choi of the People Power Party from the MMCA, the current average storage rate of the entire MMCA storage facility is approximately 91%. This exceeds the appropriate storage rate of 80% for the MMCA storage facility.

At the end of December 2009, 12 years ago, the storage rate of the Gwacheon branch storage facility had already exceeded the appropriate storage rate, and since then, as new works have been steadily collected, the storage rate once reached about 110% as of the end of December 2018.

The MMCA's average annual number of donated works over the past 10 years is about 124 pieces. This figure excludes works donated by the family of the late Chairman Lee Kun-hee. The MMCA received 323 donated works in the first half of this year alone. While the storage rate has already exceeded the appropriate level, recent cases of large-scale donations such as the 'Lee Kun-hee Collection' have also increased.

The 'Lee Kun-hee Collection' stored in the storage room of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon.

The MMCA plans to secure and lease an external storage facility of about 800 pyeong next year. To this end, a budget plan of 416 million KRW has been reflected in the budget proposal for next year. Rep. Choi pointed out, "If the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Korea itself lacks storage capacity and has to rent external space, who would want to donate artworks?"

Rep. Choi explained, "The MMCA Cheongju branch is a 'storage-specialized museum' with the largest storage facility among the four national art museums," adding, "The storage rate has already reached 92% just 2 years and 9 months after opening." He further criticized, "The government initially made a completely wrong demand forecast for the storage of national museum collections and has just stood by all this time."

Rep. Choi also emphasized, "Art storage facilities should never be approached as ordinary warehouses," stating, "They require professional and meticulous spatial planning and operation to prevent damage to artworks, including proper temperature and humidity control, as well as maximum removal and blocking of invisible airborne pollutants."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.