Every morning the city begins with the sound of car engines or the sound of bustling people traveling by subway or bus. The lives of urbanites end their day looking at the city's lights that never go out. This life is all too familiar to those living in the city, but even if you have never lived in a big city, you may have thought about city living. People make cities and cities make people. Let's explore the city within ourselves and the city we live in.
People living in the city
Cities have brought various changes to human life. Industrialization led to an influx of people from rural communities flocking to cities. Cities began to prosper as urban industries developed and more people came to live in them. These huge changes shocked those in the cities, and they began to form a culture suitable for city living. With a city culture created, urbanities began to focus on the look and culture of the city of their dreams. SMT reporters visited the <My Nights are More Beautiful than Your Days> exhibition in Seoul to discover the sensitivity of cities.
The <My Nights are More Beautiful than Your Days> exhibition is being held at Seoul Museum, which is located in Buam-dong. To get to the exhibition from Sookmyung Women's University, take Bus 400 from the Main Gate of Sookmyung Women's University and get off at Sookmyung Women's University Station. From there walk about four minutes to the bus stop and take Bus 7016 to the Jahamun Tunnel Entrance stop near Seokpajeung Station. The entire travel time will be about 39 minutes. Gallery tickets can be reserved in advance online or can be bought from the museum ticket booth. The ticket also provides the buyer with free entrance to Seokpajeung. Also, for an entire month from the date of the ticket, the ticket holder may return free of charge to the museum exhibition.
A City's vibe
The <My Nights are More Beautiful than Your Days> exhibition is Seoul Museum's first 2020 exhibition. This exhibition allows people to think about a city's sensitivity. According to the pamphlet about the exhibition, a city's sensitivity refers to the cultural phenomena formed by people living in large cities. For many generations, they are born in cities and live their entire lives in cities, and as such their hometown is the city. These people, whenever they think of their hometown, they recall tall buildings and lights that never go out. SMT reporters went to the exhibition in search of art in everyday life and to reflect on longing for city life through the works of the exhibition.
The museum has a total of three floors, and the exhibition is being held on the first floor. Right from the start, the exhibition reminds visitors to think about the city they live in. The exhibition starts with a short video with one single short sentence written below it. After watching the video, visitors are introduced to lots of paintings and photos by various artists. Beside each picture and paintings, even other materials on display, there is a sign detailing the artist's name. Under their name are several short lines about the artists' work or their thoughts about cities in general. Also, at the very bottom, the same questions are answered by all the artists. The questions are, ''What are some special feelings that can only be felt in a city?'' and ''What are a city's representative icons?'' After reading each response, visitors, as they wander about the exhibition, can sense the artists' thoughts about city life and living. The exhibit not only highlights the image of a city holistically, but it also provides specific, deep images of a city. For example, one artist emphasized that meal time is a very important routine in city people's daily lives because it is not only for fueling one's body, it is a time to find oneself as a member of a society. The exhibition also shows a short movie about the life of a woman in her twenties. The film director is not explicit on the lesson watchers should learn, but instead presents the film's lesson indirectly. Last, there are a number of other interesting features at the exhibition that describe a city as seen through the artists' eyes.
Ratings : ★★★★☆
The exhibition <My Nights are More Beautiful than Your Days> made SMT reporters reflect on life in the city. Through the various views of artists on things that we do not notice as we go about life, SMT reporters thought about things that are easily overlooked and taken for granted. The exhibition expressed city life and living through various objects, and it was interesting to see the various and unique perspectives of each artist. One of the best aspects was that the exhibition presented images of a city through many media such as paintings, photographs, and videos. In addition, besides domestic artists, the exhibition also had contributions by foreign artists displayed as well as their views on cities outside of Korea. Reporters were left with one regret. The exhibition was small, so it took less than one hour to look around and view the entire exhibition. Nevertheless, reporters were also able to look about Seokpajeung on the third floor of the exhibition hall for free. We highly recommend the exhibition and also Seokpajeung.
