The Journey

A museum made out of paper?

A magazine had reliably informed us that Olympic Park boasted a museum made entirely out of paper! We were excited to see how it could work - it seemed inconceivable - surely there would be massive problems when it rained?

It turned out that - yes - it was inconceivable! There was no museum made entirely out of paper; what we did see, however, was pretty impressive.

The museum, called Paper Tainer, is made out of 353 paper tubes and 166 freight containers. It is constructed in a way that uses no cement or water and the entire building can be dismantled and moved around with no damage to the environment.

  
   The Sporlight 30 Brands exhibition room.

Inside the museum were two exhibitions, Spotlight 30 Brands and Spotlight 30 Women. All the information inside the museum was in Korean. But we had obviously been spotted walking around (we were the only foreigners there) and as we left we were given some press information printed in English.

It seemed strange to be in possession of a press pack again - like a throwback to a previous life! I almost felt compelled to start interviewing the poor girl!

But the press pack did provide some interesting information, according to the pack:

The paper tubes, which reach 75cm in diameter and 10m in height, have adopted an elegant yet solemn columnar system which appears in traditional Korean architecture. This architecture aligns tubes consecutively in a way that seems to reach for the sky, making a magnificent sight in itself.

As a symbol of trade the containers represent delivering the culture and arts of the world to the people. And the museum building itself is a work of art.

The first exhibition we saw was Spotlight 30 Brands. Here 30 designers and artists reinterpret the brand image of 30 corporations into art. The press pack said that this is the first 'Art Marketing Exhibition' ever held in Korea. It also claimed that the corporations taking part were "aware that art and culture has the power to make a significant difference in society."

Many of the corporations featured were Korean brands so I can't tell you a lot about them but some of the best pictures are below. Check out the photos section for more pickies.

    
   This was a totally black room and when you put you hand in a tunnle and broke a hologram these lights came on. Very odd!

     
   Dimonds really are a girls best friend!

   
   Each little square you can see is a photo if the inside of a nearby grocery store.

The second exhibition was Spotlight 30 Women. Some of the paintings here were amazing, it was definitely some of the most interesting art I have ever seen. Much better then the Lourve exhibition we visited a few weeks ago.

According to the press pack the museum selected women who lead a symbolic and creative lives in Korean history and asked 30 artists, who excelled in their various fields, to "recreate and re-illuminate these women with their own unique interpretations." Some of my favourite works are below more pictures can be found in the photos section of this blog.

     
   I love this picture!

This is painted by Ahn, Seong Jin, I loved it so much a bought a postcard of it before I left. There is something incredibly powerful about the picture and the story behind it. It depicts Yoo Gwan-soon a young woman who stood up for the liberation on Korea. She was one of leaders in the march of the 1st Liberation Movement but was arrested by the Japanese and died, aged 16, in a Japanese prison after being tortured.

I also found the photos below interesting. But I was unable to find out anything about either the artist of the woman featured in the pictures.

  
   This is another powerful picture. I just wish I knew what it was supposed to represent.

    
   I'm really not sure what this is all about!! Notice how the women are naked but none of the men have any flesh showing at all!

  
   This actually looks like the painting is three dimensional.

• Posted by j150vsc on 17/12/2006.
• j150vsc's site