One of the most notable changes in the museum recently is the enrichment of educational functions. The National Museum of Korea conducted 1,631 sessions from 88 educational programs, gathering a total of 160,208 participants in the single year of 2018...
One of the most notable changes in the museum recently is the enrichment of educational functions. The National Museum of Korea conducted 1,631 sessions from 88 educational programs, gathering a total of 160,208 participants in the single year of 2018.
To commemorate the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games, the National Museum of Korea organized the special exhibition <Tigers in East Asian Art: Korea, Japan, and China>(2018.2.6 ~ 3.18) in cooperation with Tokyo National Museum and the National Museum of China. Based on the exhibition, this study focuses on the development and operation of the exhibition linked education programs conducted by the National Museum of Korea, and seeks ways to develop creative and orignal education programs.
The exhibition <Tigers in East Asian Art> features 105 artistic masterpieces depicting tigers from Korean, Japanese, and Chinese art. Ranging from ancient to contemporary times, this exhibition presents paintings, crafts, sculptures and textiles which portray tigers in primitive faiths, Taoism and Buddhism which uncovers symbolism of the tiger in diverse aspects of everyday life. The special exhibition hence explores the origin and development of the tiger motif in art and exhibits a comprehensive history of tigers from all three countries.
To develop rich education programs related to this exhibition, the curator in charge of the exhibition, educational researchers, designers, and conservation scientists gathered since the early stages of the exhibition to share in-depth understanding of the concept. After many exchanges in ideas, these discussions became ground for the development of creative and smooth operation of the education programs.
The exhibition linked education programs consisted of academic lectures, guided tours, production of exhibition guide books, exhibition of tiger picture books at the Children’s Museum and appreciation education of exhibition works. In means to foster the understanding of the exhibition, education programs not only included academic lectures and guided tours, but also produced study materials and guide books for an interactive atmosphere of the exhibition.
In addition, Children’s Museum of the National Museum of Korea held a tiger exhibition and ran a children’s tale program. This was an educational exhibition concentrating on children’s growth development and education, which resulted in great achievements by focusing on improving the overall development of children’s imagination and creativity.
Meanwhile by providing a new online exhibition service, the exhibition successfully attracted great attention and contributed in expanding the role of the National Museum. By integrating a virtual reality(VR) experience service, the online exhibition enabled anyone, anywhere, anytime all over the world to enjoy the tiger arts from the exhibition.
The museum’s exhibition linked education programs encouraged active participation of the visitors and served more than a purpose to just deliver knowledge. Hence by providing a story to communicate with viewers and enhancing the understanding of the exhibition, these programs have become significant factors that impact visitors to remember the exhibition for a long time.
To conclude, the National museum must pay great attention to establishing models for exhibition linked educational programs, while excavating and developing contents suitable for the digital age to share them with other state-run museums.