In one of the travel guides to Seoul, I came across information about the Amorepacific Museum of Art. First and foremost, I was attracted not even by the exhibition of this display space itself, but by the unusual building in which it is located. Here is a look at my trip.
History of the museum
The museum traces its history back to 1979, though the exhibition wasn't as grand back then. In the past, it was a collection of exhibits gathered by the founder of Amorepacific, Suh Sung-whan.
Amorepacific itself has nothing to do with art: the corporation is engaged in the production of cosmetics, personal care products, and health products. Its first cosmetics laboratory was opened back in 1954.
The Amorepacific Museum of Art received its current name in 2009. Since then, items of ancient Korean art and contemporary exhibits from various countries around the world have been displayed here.
The museum exhibition seemed quite small to me, with just a few halls. On the day of my visit, a Mark Bradford exhibition was being held at the museum. The internet says he is a contemporary American artist who represented the US at the 2017 Venice Biennale.
And a bit about the building itself where the museum is located. As I wrote at the beginning of the article, this structure looks very unusual: the building is a massive cube with huge openings. You can only truly appreciate the scale of the building from afar. I crossed the road, but even that didn't help to capture this impressive structure in its entirety.
How to get there by metro
The Amorepacific building is located right next to the exit of the Sinyongsan metro station. The corporation's headquarters is also located here.
Mapping a route around Seoul on foot or by transport is most convenient using the Naver app. "Google Maps" only maps routes for public transit.
The cost of visiting the exhibition space was 16 000 won. It should be noted that tickets to many other museums in Seoul are much cheaper. For example, a walk through the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art cost me 2 000 won. Entrance to Gyeongbokgung Palace was 3 000 won. So, I would only recommend Amorepacific to the most ardent fans of contemporary art or to those who want to take a few photos of the museum's unusual building.
Happy travels!
