The public search for a new director of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Korea's only national art museum, began on the 1st. It follows the expiration of Director Kim Sung-hee's term in September. As the standing of K-art has risen recently, the view that the role of public art museums is important has become dominant. Within the art world, calls are gaining strength that alongside policy support to help public museums grow to world-class levels, fundamental reflection is needed on the current open-recruitment and fixed-term systems.
This marks the first time the MMCA has conducted a search for a new director while the incumbent is still in office. Although the recruitment process has only just begun, the atmosphere is already heating up, with speculation about candidates emerging. The strongest candidate is considered to be Ki Hye-kyung, a Hongik University professor who served as director of the Busan Museum of Art. She is regarded as a proven expert with experience at the MMCA and the Seoul Museum of Art. Seoul National University professor Shim Sang-yong, who faces mandatory retirement in the second half of this year, served as director of the Seoul National University Museum of Art for six years starting in 2020. Former director Kang Seung-wan, who worked at the Museum of Contemporary Art Busan for four years and completed her term at the end of last month, is also among the strong candidates. Lee Ji-ho, who has led the Jeonnam Museum of Art for six years from its opening preparations, is being mentioned despite having a remaining term until April next year. Former director Sun Seung-hye, who served as director of the Korean Cultural Centre in the UK until early this year, is also being discussed. She has a broad career, starting as a curator at the National Museum of Korea, then serving as a curator at the Cleveland Museum of Art in the US and as head of the curatorial research department at the Seoul Museum of Art.
Based on career alone, Choi Eun-ju, director of the Seoul Museum of Art, is considered the most suitable, but her contract was extended after taking office in 2023 and she has much work through the first half of next year. Seo Jin-suk, director preparing the renovation and September reopening of the Busan Museum of Art, also has a term running until October next year.
The art world is heating up because, starting with the MMCA, a string of public museum director searches will follow in the second half of the year. Arko Art Center has been under an acting-director system for more than a year since director Lim Keun-hye left for the Centre Pompidou Hanwha, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Busan and the Daejeon Lee Ungno Museum will also soon begin recruitment procedures. By year-end, the terms of the directors of Suwon, the Jeonbuk Provincial, Jeju Provincial and Daejeon Museums of Art will also expire. Daegu, where the director post has been vacant for a prolonged period, is in a difficult situation. It is pointed out that after the city incorporated the museum under the Daegu Culture and Arts Promotion Agency, the director's rank was lowered, making it difficult to find a capable director. The post has been vacant for more than half a year since former director Noh Jung-gi—who drew controversy as a "high school classmate" of former Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo—stepped down at the end of last year.
The problem is that while the public's level of cultural enjoyment has risen, museum governance remains backward. The fact that the pool of leading candidates changes each time an administration or local government head changes undermines the arm's-length principle of cultural policy—"support without interference." The open-recruitment system, which purports to offer "open opportunity," is also producing counterproductive effects, because the more prestigious an expert is, the more reluctant they are to write and submit an application themselves. The positions open up, but the talent does not come.
The art world points to the fixed-term system as an obstacle blocking policy continuity. The MMCA director's term is three years, and even the head of the curatorial research office is bound by short-term contracts, making it difficult to set mid- to long-term strategies. The maximum extension for a high-performing director is only five years (3+2 years). Considering that museums usually prepare exhibitions two years in advance, a new director often ends up finishing the exhibitions of their predecessor and then leaving without properly seeing the exhibitions they themselves planned. This contrasts with Glenn Lowry, director of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, who led the museum for 30 years and built a global brand. MMCA directors have frequently faced ignominious mid-term resignations and have been vulnerable to changes of administration. The government pledged to strengthen expertise in its Third Basic Plan for the Promotion of Museums and Art Museums (2024–2028), but without term and governance designs that guarantee expertise and autonomy, each recruitment season could repeat a race on a "tilted playing field." Kim Dal-jin, director of the Kim Daljin Art Archives and Museum, said, "Only when a stable term that allows for establishing a museum's long-term vision and a structure that can withstand changes in local government heads or political ties are guaranteed will systematic art-history organization and museum operation be possible."
