National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea holds Figurative Journal: Chung Guyon Archive from February 28 to September 22 at Gwacheon Gallery 5 to mark the second anniversary of the death of Chung Guyon(1945-2011) for the discovery of the meaning of his architecture, city, life and culture. The exhibition presents an archive of about two thousand items built after one-year-long process of researches and selection out of twenty thousand items the architect had donated to the museum before his death.

The exhibition displays a vast collection of Chung's architectural works in connection with various stories of the space and places we encounter through different aspects of life. It provides a detailed introduction to the materials, including the Muju Project Drawings, produced during the period Chung Guyon studied in France which led to the formation of ideological root for his architecture and the production of major works. The Archive of Chung Guyon built in the exhibition venue exhibits traces of his life spent an intellectual who actively participated in various social issues and lived up to his own artistic principles. In the Chung Guyon's Lecture Room at the end of the exhibition venue, visitors are introduced to video clips of the architect's lectures in five subjects taped by a film director Jeong Jae-eun.

The title of the exhibition, Figurative Journal, is taken from his book, Architecture of Correspondence It reflects the architect's wish to make his drawings and writings a treasury of architecture and people's everyday life just like a road made through people's repeated walking become a guidepost for all of us treading on it.

Largely focused on land around us and mundane daily life, his works guide us to turn to the fundamental value of architecture. Chung Guyon wanted his architectural works to be in harmony with the delightfully simple beauty of our land and people, a viewpoint largely ignored by those preferring luxury and grandeur in their art. This exhibition of Chung's 'drawings' and 'writings' is expected to guide viewers to the track followed by the architect who loved our land and worked hard to discover the true meaning of the spaces contained in the land.

The exhibition is accompanied by several educational and cultural events focusing on the life and architecture of Chung Guyon including Talking Architect, a documentary film presented on March 9 at the Main Hall, and a talk with the film director Jeong Jae-eun. In April, there will follow conferences on the Chung's achievement participated by experts in art, architecture, literature, and sociology. In May, the museum's permanent lecture series will be expanded to contain lectures on "Chung Guyon's Architecture and the Mundane of Everyday Life".

*image(left)
Development Project, Anseong-myeon, Muju, Master plan, 1997
© Guyon CHUNG

Courtesy of National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea