글로벌 시대의 로컬 미술관 : 국내미술관의 글로벌네트워크 강화 사례를 중심으로

Abstract

In this new era which oscillates between 'Macdonaldization' or homogenization and hybridization armed with fast trade and commerce, local cities are pressured to meet the so-called global standards in order to join the world-wide procession of cultural or consumer products. The trade-based networks control the current paradigm of the global world by creating fabrics of supraterritorial 'small boxes' which gradually demolish the homogeneous old communities. Contemporary art museums also face an age of globalization and glocalization based on the abstract concept of 'the global village.'In this era of networks and global competitions, it becomes imperative for the local museums to join the networking museum worlds and to create new identity that meets the global cultural standards imposed by the local city governments. Korean public museums,indebted its concepts and structures to Euro-American predecessors, attempt to practice networking with unchartered organizations out of their strategies for sustainability. Among their recent partners are museums in Southeastern countries and the South America which had been neglected in their exhibitions before 2000. Major local museums in Korea such as the National Museum of Contemporary Art and Seoul Museum of Art have ambitiously mounted international exhibitions following the above model yet revealed the lack of understanding on why networks become important and how new ideas and/or paradigms can be made out of the new relationships. Some of the exhibitions-<Asian Cubism>, <Asian Realism>-rely on the concepts of European art styles while others like <City-net Asia>fail to provide in-depth discussion on why and how exhibiting Asian art is significant for the current international fabrics. Hybridization of museum practices is found in Gwangju Museum of Art that not only puts exhibiting and preserving artworks in their priorities but also focuses on promoting local artists to the global art world in Seoul and Beijing. The museum has built several studio programs in the global cities including the local city Gwangju which hosts the large-scale Gwangju Biennale while running a rental space in Seoul that gives Gwangju artists a favorable charge.