Gwangju Museum of Art
Gwangju Museum of Art (광주광역시립미술관)
Gwangju’s City Art Museum is a somewhat unusual place. It’s a bit hard to get to (I rode my bike) as it isn’t near a subway or train station (much of Gwangju shares this same fate including Chonnam National University). So I wasn’t surprised when the place (in a city of 1.5 million people) was nearly empty. What was surprising is that photography of the works is not allowed. Even though Gwangju loves getting the word out about Gwangju’s May 18 massacre, and many of the works depicted scenes from that event, I asked if I could take photos and they said “no, only a general photo of the museum” (above). This seemed strange for a number of reasons, not just because you’d think they would want information about the massacre spread. The museum wasn’t crowded, the works weren’t famous, and (like Italy and some other museums where photography is prohibited) they weren’t trying to get visitors to buy postcards instead of take photos.
Anyway, this isn’t a museum you will want to travel to Korea in order to visit. If you are in Korea you won’t even want to go to Gwangju to see it. However, if you are stuck in Gwangju for a month or more and are bored out of your mind, you may want to check it out on a day when the weather isn’t so good and you have nothing else to do.