Meet 'Baek Nam-jun' Directly in Ulsan... Ulsan Museum of Art, the First Public Art Museum, Opens on the 6th

Ulsan Museum of Art 5 Opening Exhibitions.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] You can now meet 'Nam June Paik' right in Ulsan. The long-awaited first public art museum, 'Ulsan Museum of Art,' is finally opening its doors.

The Ulsan Museum of Art will hold its opening ceremony on the 6th and will welcome citizens starting from the 7th.

The museum is located in Bukjeong-dong, Jung-gu, near Ulsan Dongheon. It features three exhibition halls and XR Lab, the first dedicated immersive media art gallery in a public art museum.

Positioning itself as a 'future-oriented museum' centered on media art, it pursues exhibitions that seek harmony between nature and technology, industry and art, based on regional identity. The goal is to grow into a world-class glocal museum.

A total of five projects have been prepared for the inaugural exhibition.

The opening special exhibition is titled 'Post Nature: Dear Nature.' It reflects Ulsan's identity as a city transforming from an industrial capital to one where ecology, culture, and tourism coexist.

It proposes a world where technology and nature not only coexist but also fuse. The exhibition includes Nam June Paik's work 'Birdcage in the Grove, Apocalypse of the Forest.' It will be displayed in Exhibition Halls 1 and 2 of the Ulsan Museum of Art until April 10.

In the dedicated immersive media art gallery, the exhibition 'Black and Light: Aldo Tambellini' runs until April 17. The reality of augmented virtual expansion is coming. Visitors can experience a sensory-satisfying exhibition using VR, AR, and XR.

In Exhibition Hall 3, the children's planned exhibition 'Singing Whale, Diving Star' is held. It is an experiential exhibition where children engage in synesthetic artistic activities under the theme of 'Ulsan,' a city where people, ecology, and technology coexist.

Children aged 5 and above can participate, and those up to 7 years old must be accompanied by a guardian. This exhibition runs until May 8.

'Ulsan Museum of Art Collection Exhibition: Brilliant Days' showcases about 30 collected works. It is held at the former Ulsan Education Training Center in Daewangam Park, Dong-gu. Visitors can see Nam June Paik's 'Turtle,' the first collected work, which evokes Ulsan's cultural prototype, the Bangudae Petroglyphs.

The exhibition 'Face_to_Face 2021,' introducing works by 24 emerging Ulsan artists, is also set up inside the former Ulsan Education Training Center, and both exhibitions run until April 10.

The Ulsan Museum of Art charges an admission fee of 1,000 KRW, but it is free for those under 19 and over 65. Operating hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and it is closed every Monday as well as on Lunar New Year and Chuseok holidays.

A museum official said, "Through the five opening commemorative exhibitions, visitors can experience cutting-edge contemporary art including flat art, sculpture, installation, performance, and digital media art."

Striving to be a 'future-oriented museum,' it also established the 'Future Museum Forum' to propose new social functions and roles of art in line with changing times.

From December 15 to 17 last year, an online forum was held for three days, discussing the direction of alternative art and the restoration of the public nature of art with 13 museums from 11 countries worldwide, including Germany and Austria, specializing in media art.

The museum is also focusing on researching Ulsan's cultural and artistic identity and discovering outstanding local artists, laying the foundation for Ulsan as a cultural city.

The Ulsan Museum of Art was constructed starting in August 2019 with a project budget of 67.7 billion KRW on a 6,182㎡ site in Bukjeong-dong, Jung-gu, with a total area of 12,770㎡, consisting of three basement floors and two above-ground floors.

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