National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Jeong Young-sun Exhibition Wins Top Prize at Germany Red Dot Design Award

The First in Domestic Art Museums... A Valuable Achievement Born from Perfectionism

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul announced on the 6th that the ongoing exhibition by landscape architect Jeong Young-sun, "Jeong Young-sun: For All That Breathes on This Land," has won the highest award (Best of the Best) in the Brand Communication category at Germany's prestigious Red Dot Design Award 2024. This is the first time a domestic art museum or gallery has received this honor.

Exhibition view of 'Jeong Young-sun: For All Things Breathing on This Land' held at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. [Photo by National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art]

"Jeong Young-sun: For All That Breathes on This Land" is an exhibition reflecting on the life and work of Jeong Young-sun, Korea’s first-generation landscape architect and the first female certified land development engineer. It is the first solo exhibition of a landscape architect held at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art.

To engage visitors unfamiliar with the field of landscape architecture, the museum devised a new exhibition method departing from the typical archive format. To exhibit landscape works, which are a form of "time art" that changes beauty over time, the museum applied not only horizontal spatial arrangements but also vertical arrangements utilizing the height of the space and the eye level of visitors.

At visitors’ eye level, key scenes from projects embodying Jeong Young-sun’s values were displayed, while archival materials revealing the history of the land were exhibited in floor display cases. Above the exhibition hall, a panoramic video produced by documentary filmmakers Kirin Geurim (Jeong Da-woon and Kim Jong-shin) was projected to allow visitors to experience the flow of seasons and changes in the landscape.

Exhibition view of 'Jung Young-sun: For All Things Breathing on This Land' held at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. Photo by National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

A representative from the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art explained, “We realized an exhibition where visitors actively internalize the works, so that the act of a landscape architect working closely with the land becomes the attitude of visitors viewing the exhibition.”

The Red Dot Design Award 2024 ceremony will be held on November 1 in Berlin, Germany. On that day, the Grand Prix will be selected from among the highest awards. Along with Germany’s iF and the USA’s IDEA, the Red Dot Design Award is one of the world’s most prestigious international design competitions, celebrating its 70th anniversary this year.

The exhibition "Jeong Young-sun: For All That Breathes on This Land" will be open until September 22.

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