My name is Yeno Jae Chung. I am a Junior
Fine Arts major. During the summer of 2017 I begin my first internship at Milal
Fine Art Museum in South Korea. Milal Foundation is a welfare foundation and
the museum is attached with Milal special school. I knew about the organization
since middle school when I heard my father talking about it. I first gathered information about the organization and
museum within the organization and found out they had the greatest collection
of North Korean art. I never had seen or heard of any art from North Korea and the
fact that they had the greatest collection of it was interesting enough for me to apply for
an internship. Luckily, they responded quickly with positive reply!
When I first begin to work,
the museum was preparing for a new exhibition by Jinkyung Shin. She reproduces
traditional furniture into furniture/ artwork that can be used and placed in
contemporary cites with the use of traditional techniques. It was then when I
first met the curator (my direct supervisor) and saw the place being displayed.
The curator of the museum was also a director of museum as well, and within the
help of two assistant curators, they managed and planned upcoming shows as well as managed storage spaces.
My task on site differed daily
depending on what was needed. Prior to the show we worked on
displaying the space, lighting, painting walls and pedestals. During the show, I was asked to
clean displayed and stored sculptures, translate artist profiles and
photograph artwork. I was glad I had this opportunity to actually feel and
sense how the place is run. I’d say what I learned at the site was not
something entirely new, but another step further from what I already knew. I
also felt as a growing artist, it is my responsibility to make an artwork that people will want to preserve, which I had not thought much about in the past. It was a
great opportunity to work at an actual museum site and every decision the curators made was a lesson for me. It definitely helped me to better define my goal for the rest of my time at MICA and after.
