D “Overrated” Museum: Seoul, South Korea

Welcome to “D Museum”, the museum that is not quite a museum.

Entrance to D Museum

D Museum’s ‘Spatial Illumination: 9 Lights in 9 Rooms’ showcases nine lights.
In nine separate rooms.
And nothing special.

First of the nine rooms: “Neon Forms (after Noh II and III)” — Photos by John Kim

The exhibit includes installations, sculptures, videos, and sounds that fragment light in different ways. Although the tickets were 8,000 won per entry, the museum was free on Instagram. When I entered each of the rooms, my attention drifted away from the lights towards the incessant clicking of camera shutters as herds of people channeled their inner smartphone-photographer with one goal in mind: the inevitable social media upload. Visually digesting the exhibits through our physical eyes is a luxury and not the standard at this museum. As soon as the visitors take the “right” picture–on to the next one.

Probably the most popular room for photos: “Chromosaturation”— Photos by John Kim

Even though D Museum was quite disappointing overall, the exhibit allows for a fun exploration of angles. The varying shapes of the installations in conjunction with the multichromatic schemes produce unique perspectives of the same object from various angles. In addition to capturing the various components of white light, the exhibits also showcases the flexibility of shadows, as darkness naturally complements light. This duality makes the museum interactively, albeit briefly, amusing.

“CMYK corner, CMYK wall ‘Don’t look into the light'”— Photo by John Kim

In the Social Media Era, art museums have evolved into an Instagram photo studio. I would like to challenge visitors to enjoy the space as an escape from the urban reality that is void of such visually stimulating lights. Even the essence of the word “museum” calls visitors to muse, to take a moment and interpret what the artist might have been trying to tell his or her audience, maybe even conjure a nostalgic memory or two; the insta-worthy picture can be taken shortly thereafter.

The artists of the nine rooms

Stairway to heaven? “Bourrasque”— Photo by John Kim

The design of shadows: “CMYK corner, CMYK wall ‘Don’t look into the light'”— Photo by John Kim

I’d want this as my chandelier: “Mirror Branch Daelim”

The colors changed by the movement of people: “Primary”

** Disclaimer: Not all of the rooms are pictured.

★★☆☆☆
5-6 Dokseodang-ro 29-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul
December 5, 2015~ May 8, 2016 (Closed on Mondays)
https://www.daelimmuseum.org/dmuseum/eng/onViewTab1.do