ABSTRACT
The National Museum produces context-free displays, focusing on accentuating the visual value of objects rather than facilitating visitor's understanding of them. The fine art gallery takes this aesthetic approach to the extreme. Each object here is removed from its original context. The exhibitions in the National Museum of Korea are designed for both domestic visitors and foreigner visitors to systemically identify the characteristics of the Korean cultural tradition among the world cultures. While the Chinese and Japanese cultures are relatively familiar to most Westerners, Korean culture is much less known. This chapter concentrates on obscure and unorganized moment, which was contradictory and trivial among the experiences in the National Museum of Korea. It then explores how the moment was connected to the public discourse on Korean cultural identity, to the physical and conceptual narratives of the National Museum of Korea, and the personal histories.
