The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) has announced the winner of this year’s MMCA Gwacheon Project. The design practice stpmj (cofounded by architects Seung Teak Lee and Mi Jung Lim), which is based between New York and Seoul, were chosen from four runners-up by a panel including academics, critics and the press. The MMCA Gwacheon Project is a competition that invites architects to submit proposals for an outdoor installation that responds to the Gwacheon site (one of MMCA’s four museum sites). This year, the Gwacheon Project ‘reinterprets the locational and conditional circumstances of open, outdoor spaces, offering visitors an environment where they can breathe and rest.’
Stpmj presented an idea for an interactive installation of nearly 700 structures located across the sloping grass banks surrounding the museum, that evoke the shapes of lotus leaves, umbrellas or tree canopies. Titled The Surface, the installation will be displayed from September 2020 to May 2021.
In a statement, director of MMCA Youn Bummo has said: ‘This project highlights the unique locational qualities of MMCA Gwacheon’s outdoor space, displaying artwork while also shaping the environment and providing visitors a haven for rest and pleasure. I hope all citizens will find respite from the ongoing COVID-19 crisis in this chance to breathe, rest, and delight in joy.’
