Conservator C’s Day｜Curator-guided exhibition tour

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA, director Youn Bummo), presents the first half-year temporary exhibition Conservator C’s Day from Tuesday, 26 May to Sunday, 4 October in the Museum of the National Art Conservation Center (hereafter MMCA Cheongju). In terms of the life cycle of artworks comprising collection, exhibition, conservation, and restoration, Conservator C’s Day presents the latter two stages of “conservation and restoration,” introducing viewers to stories of conservation science that, unlike the other well-known museum tasks, normally stay hidden out of sight. The “C” in the title stands for the eponymous “Conservator” and the MMCA’s “Cheongju” museum while also serving as a homonym for the Korean courtesy title ssi used after names. Like all things in this world, artworks are subject to environmental and physical hazards that cause corrosion and damage. Yet the helping hand of a conservator ensures that they receive a second chance at life. The processes of conservation and restoration alter the general life cycle of birth.growth.decline.death into a new cycle of prolonged life: birth.growth.decline.rebirth. In contemporary art, this goes beyond granting an artwork a few extra years on this Earth, as it creates a whole new layer of meaning with regard to temporality. Revolving around the central figure of the conservator, Conservator C’s Day follows the footsteps of the fictional “Conservator C” as a way of introducing the daily workings of conservation science as a profession. This exhibition focuses on the conservation and restoration of contemporary art, thus highlighting conservation “science” from the perspective of culture and art. The curator’s humanistic, art-cultural approach allows for the visualization of daily tasks and dilemmas faced by the conservationist, whose work takes place amid the multiple relations formed by the artist, artwork, viewers, and others. By focusing on the conservation and restoration of contemporary artworks, the exhibition sheds light on conservation “science” from an art-cultural context. Selecting such keywords as “wound,” “tools,” “dilemmas,” and “ideas” to represent the conservator’s day, the exhibition presents the five themes “When C Faces a Wound,” “C’s Tools,” “C Who Accumulates Time,” “C’s Dilemmas,” and “C’s Study.” Moving along these exhibition spaces, the viewer will glimpse into the conservator’s day recreated in a sphere straddling the real and the fictional. Conservator C’s Day MMCA Cheongju 26 May 2020 ~ 4 October 2020 ⠀ #MMCA #MMCA_TV #국립현대미술관 #보존과학자C의하루 #보존과학자씨의하루 #보존 #복원 #보존과학 #Conservator #Cheongju