For the first time in a billion years I went to an art museum out of my own will (almost).
Why?
I’m taking a mandatory Arts and Humanities class at school. One of the assignments of that class requires all students to go to some art museum and write an essay about it, so I had to go somewhere at some point.
Originally I was just going to go sometime before the due date to the museum near my school, but things didn’t go exactly as planned (not that I had a plan to begin with). This wasn’t a bad thing though. If anything, it was for the better.
How Things Started
I was just chilling inside the POSCAT club room with a friend (also known as Fixed). We were talking about random stuff and I was persuading her to listen to the Probabilities and Statistics class I took last semester, when she mentioned the art museum assignment. She said she was thinking of going that week , which took me by surprise as it was the first week of the semester.
However, she mentioned how the deadline was March 22nd, which was about a month away, and how later in the semester there would be a whole lot more assignments from other classes, which would make going to the museum a lot more challenging. These were extremely valid points, as I wasn’t even aware of the deadline, and I’m taking 9 classes, which would mean about 9 assignments a week. And thus suddenly going to an art museum that week became a very good idea.
Along with that, she mentioned how most people will go to the local art museum near the school, and that going somewhere different might make the essay stand out more. As someone who got a B+ in a writing class, this was very tempting, and we started looking at other museum options.
Eventually we found an exhibition at the Ulsan Art Museum which seemed cool and interesting. My friend seemed like she was planning to go on Saturday. I didn’t have any plans during noon that Sunday, so that was a good time to take a quick trip to Ulsan and back.
After that I asked some friends to see if anyone had the time to go, and it turned out they all had schedules, so I just planned to go there myself. However, at Saturday when I went to dinner with Fixed and a few other friends, she said she was still considering the idea of going there. I mentioned that I was going next day, and she suggested going together. I figured going with someone I know will be more fun than going alone, and she also has actual experience with art museums, which I don’t, so there was no reason to refuse.
So yeah, I went to Ulsan to go to an art museum. Something I didn’t think I’d actually do.
Before the Museum
We met at 10 am and took the bus to Ulsan. I expected an arrival time of around 12:20, but we actually arrived quite earlier than that. We had lunch somewhere nearby, and it was around 1 o’clock by the time we finished. It takes about 10 minutes to go to the museum from where we were, so we went to take a look at a book store which just outside the restaurant.
The book store wasn’t that large. There was a small corner with some manga, but it was mostly popular stuff with not many interesting stuff. We also took a look at stores that sold everyday goods. I was willing to by poker cards if they sold any, which apparently they didn’t. Fixed seemed to be interested in those credit card wallets you stick on the back of your phone.
Anyway it was time to go to the museum.
The Museum
So we arrived at the museum.
The exhibition we were planning to watch was called Anthony McCall : Line Describing a Cone 2.0. It’s an interactive work by the artist Anthony McCall, and the works are made by shooting light at a screen. Now, this explanation makes it look very boring, but that’s just because I suck at explaining. It’s actually really cool if you see it in person.
Also, because of how the works are made, it was extremely difficult to get some good pictures. Still, I tried my best, and here are the results.
Last photo was provided by Fixed, who is arguably way better at taking photos than I am.
There weren’t much of these light projections (total of 3). Still, it was a very cool experience, especially standing inside the light. However, while being extremely cool and new, I wasn’t really sure if I could write a full essay out of this. The artist probably put some meaning into this, but I didn’t really feel much other than amazement. Of course, things could be different if I actually do some research.
This exhibition ended a lot quicker than I first imagined, so we headed upstairs to see the other exhibition that was being held at the time. This exhibition was called Glance a Face, Open a Heart by the artist KAPPAO.
This one I went in without knowing much, but it was a more typical art exhibition that you would expect. Here are some photos I’ve taken.
As you can tell from the photos, the amount of variation of the artworks were stunning, from doors, paintings, clay sculptures, what looked like a giant stuffed toy, to works that used magnets and a full video. Just the variation alone exceeded anything I was expecting (which wasn’t much, to be honest).
The drawings or design themselves are probably not what one would consider “well drawn”. The style (especially the characters) gave me vibes of a kids cartoon, something that maybe an elementary school would turn on for educational purposes. It was a kind of design that doesn’t stick out as good the first time you see it, but sort of grows on you the more you look at it.
Also, although the design of the characters aren’t anything near a perfect human, or something like an anime character, I feel like the design makes it easier for me to feel something as a standalone, still image. Not sure why, but I think the imperfectness of the design makes it easier to project oneself into it. Or not, I’m not so sure.
Other than that, the designs of the doors were also quite memorable, and it gave me the vibes of Lobotomy Corporation, a video game where you have to manage a bunch of SCP-like monsters. So that was cool.
The background music was a song called 深呼吸 by ハナレグミ from the movie After the Storm. It never dawned on me until then, but the choice of what music is playing in the exhibition also made quite the difference to the experience.
Overall, this was a very unique experience, to say the least, and for something I didn’t give any thought about, the exhibition was very good. There was a lot to think about, and a lot to explore. So, when I end up writing the essay, I probably would write about this exhibition.
So that was the end of the art museum. I honestly wasn’t expecting much, but it was actually very nice and I’m glad to have come here.
After the Museum
Looking around the museum was quicker than I imagined, and we had quite some time before the bus back to school. Fixed suggested crashing out at a cafe, so we went back to near the bust station as there was literally nothing around the art museum.
Before going to the cafe though, we checked out the department store nearby as I wanted to see if they sold anything. They didn’t so we quickly headed back out and went to a Starbucks. We stayed there for about an hour talking about random stuff and took the bus back to school.
Epilogue
So that’s the story of how I went to an art museum for the first time in like a decade (might be longer, I don’t know). As someone who barely goes outside, this was a nice break from everything usual. I also got to feel like a very cultured person, when I’m obviously not. I probably won’t go to another museum for a while, but after this, I feel like going to one is not a bad idea every once in a while.
Also massive thanks to Fixed for going with me and saving me from potentially dooming this assignment by reminding me about the deadline. I honestly don’t think I would’ve enjoyed it as much as I did if I went alone. Hopefully I wasn’t to much of a bother to her.
Anyways, that’s all from me, hopefully I manage to get an A from this, cheers.