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When we visit any kind of museum, we tend to have certain expectations of the
experience we are about to have. At art museums, we would expect to see nothing but art objects.
Usually interactive features are scarce in an art exhibit because interaction occurs through the
eyes upon the art. As people become more reliant on and accustomed to digital touch screens and
multimedia, however, even art museums find themselves needing to adapt to the changing
demands of the new generation if they hope to stay relevant. In competition with information
technology, art museums also need to create exhibitions that will offer people an experience that
they cannot replace with Google searches or Wikipedia. Hence it is no surprise that the
Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA)’s latest major exhibition, “Treasures from Korea: Arts and
Culture of the Joseon Dynasty, 1392-1910,” includes more interactive digital features than any of
its previous shows. It provides a unique opportunity for visitors to see art that has never visited
the United States and to enjoy an exhibit whose scope and content is unprecedented in the United
States. Appealing to a broad audience with an assumed lack of background knowledge about
Joseon art and culture, the curators of this exhibit sought to thematically teach visitors about
Joseon culture as reflected by its art through more interactive media and a wide range of objects.
The inclusion of multimedia is apparent from the beginning of “Treasures from Korea.”
When visitors enter this exhibit of over 150 objects, the first thing they see is a large video that
takes up the entire left wall of the room. The video consists of a slideshow showing sections of a
large scroll painting of a royal wedding procession on view in the adjacent gallery. It is a grand
introduction that sets up viewers for one of the main points of the exhibition; namely, that the
royal court of the Joseon dynasty informed the direction of Korean art. In this same room, the
introductory panel for the exhibit helpfully lays out the three main themes that the exhibition will
explore through artwork: the roles of king and court, the distinct spheres of men and women in
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society, and religious beliefs, all of which are dictated by Confucian philosophy since the Joseon
rulers adopted Confucianism as the state’s official religion. 1
The exhibition follows this order of themes from gallery to gallery, displaying objects of
various mediums. While the exhibit does not guide visitors in a specific order to view each
object, there is a clear path from gallery to gallery that visitors follow. In several galleries, there
is a computer touch screen that visitors can use to engage with the artwork in front of them by
learning about its symbolism and connections to Confucianism. In addition to the touch screens,
visitors can also get more information about the objects through a free audio tour that speaks
about select objects on view.
The last two galleries address themes that are not mentioned in the introductory panel of
the first gallery. The penultimate gallery addresses Buddhism, which, although not the official
religion of the Joseon dynasty, was still practiced by most individuals in the royal court as well
as among the general public. The last gallery shows the changes that occurred in Joseon art with
the advent of Western influence near the end of the dynasty from the 18th to the early 20th
century. In this gallery is a most surprising interactive computer activity where a visitor can write
his or her name in Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, and receive a printed out souvenir of his or her
own calligraphy. Receiving a token from the exhibition like this is one of the most
unprecedented but fun elements of the exhibition compared to what the PMA typically does.
This brings us to the question of whether the PMA curators’ approach to displaying these
art objects successfully fulfills the PMA’s institutional, audience outreach, and interpretive goals.
Does “Treasures from Korea” stay true to the PMA’s mission? Does it successfully engage its
target audience? And does it communicate its big idea, the story it tells and why it should matter
1
Hyunsoo Woo, ed., Treasures from Korea: Arts and Culture of the Joseon Dynasty, 1392-1910 (New Haven, CT:
Yale University Press, 2014), 1.
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to visitors? I argue that the PMA fulfills these first two objectives completely, and the third
objective partially.
Institutional Goals
Recently, the PMA presented “A Strategic Vision for the Philadelphia Museum of Art,”
the museum’s plan to “renew and reimagine [its] extraordinary legacy.”2 In other words, it is the
museum’s mission statement for innovating itself for the 21st century. Several of the provisions
in the plan can be seen directly at work in “Treasures from Korea.”
One change that the plan calls for is the incorporation of digital and virtual elements in
the museum experience in order to engage the newest generation of museum-goers, which the
exhibit accomplishes. The good thing about the virtual components in “Treasures from Korea” is
that they do not replace the objects as a source for education about and exposure to Joseon art.
One would need to see the objects themselves in order to use the touchscreen, which is rightfully
subservient to the objects. This stops the experience of the exhibition from feeling too much like
what one would expect at an anthropological museum or a science museum, where there can be
less focus on the objects depending on the educational goals of the particular exhibition. This is
important because it helps art museums stay relevant in a world where pictures and information
about artwork is readily available online.
Another objective in the PMA’s “Strategic Vision” is to “share the transformative power
of the arts with people around the world.”3 Through this exhibition, the PMA attracts visitors
from different places by offering them the chance to see art that has never left Korea before. The
PMA began an art exchange with Korea in 2013, when it loaned works from its American art
collection to an exhibition at the National Museum of Korea called “Art Across America,”
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3
"Our Future," Philadelphia Museum of Art, accessed March 13, 2014, http://www.philamuseum.org/ourfuture/.
Ibid.
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satisfying its mission to expose people to art from a diversity of cultures. As the museums of
Korea have returned the PMA the favor by loaning over 150 works to them for “Treasures from
Korea,” the goal of reaching a multi-national audience is achieved by both museums through
these shows.
Audience Outreach
The target audience consisted of people who could benefit from a gained awareness of
Korea’s longest-running and last dynasty which had a profound impact on its civilization. In all
accompanying literature to “Treasures from Korea,” it is clear that the exhibition’s curators
assumed that their audience had no background knowledge about Joseon art and culture. The
information given about each object on view is meant to give readers a general understanding of
the function and symbolism present in the object, as well as how it reflects the dynasty’s
Confucian values.
On another level, however, I think the PMA saw this show as an opportunity for KoreanAmericans to see art from their native land and to reconnect with their nation’s cultural history
and heritage. This is evidenced by the translation of all the labels in the exhibition into Hangeul,
Korea’s phonetic alphabet. The audio tour is offered not only in English, but also in Hangeul,
which is further evidence of the PMA’s sensitivity to the opportunity that “Treasures from
Korea” gives to an audience for whom, perhaps, the show hits closer to home.
Interpretive Goals
The big idea of an exhibition is the story that it tells. In order for it to be an idea big
enough to make the exhibition worthwhile to visitors, the big idea must have “fundamental
meaningfulness that is important to human nature.”4 The introductory panel in the first room of
4
Beverly Serrell, Exhibit Labels: An Interpretive Approach (Walnut Creek, CA: Alta Mira Press, 1996), 1.
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“Treasures from Korea” tells viewers the three themes through which the story of the Joseon
dynasty will be recounted via art objects: the roles of king and court, the distinct spheres of men
and women in society, and religious beliefs. All of these, according to the panel, are underpinned
by the principles of Confucianism. As one walks through the various rooms of the exhibition, it
becomes clear that Confucianism influenced all aspects of Korean life. It is also apparent that the
art itself, in symbolism, style, and function, reflects Confucian beliefs. As a result, my
understanding of the show’s big idea is that the Joseon dynasty’s decision to lead Korea
according to Confucianism affected Koreans from all walks of life, consequently causing their
art to reflect Confucian values.
The first three rooms of the show, which address the themes of King and Court, Joseon
Society, and Ancestral Rituals and Confucian Values, interpret and flesh out this big idea in
harmony with one another. All of the labels in these rooms consistently explain how the objects
reflect Confucianism, as well as their function and meaning within Joseon society. They educate
viewers about Korean life under Joseon rule and give them a window into the Confucian lifestyle
which Korean art followed. These rooms also do a fantastic job of incorporating interactive
touch screen stations into the exhibit that help viewers better understand the artworks in front of
them in a fun and helpful manner. This marks one of the PMA’s first forays into the inclusion of
interactive media in exhibits as unequivocally successful.
In contrast, the fourth and fifth rooms of the exhibition, titled Buddhism in the Joseon
Dynasty and The End of a Dynasty respectively, veer off from this big idea, and they are flaws in
an otherwise flawless exhibition. They detract from the rooms that preceded them for different
reasons as well.
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The introductory panels in the first room of the exhibit mention Buddhism only briefly,
without any suggestion that there will be an entire room dedicated to the subject of Buddhist art
in Joseon Korea. Up to this point, the exhibition’s text led me to believe that the show would
only address Confucianist art in the Joseon dynasty, since it seemed to be the sole source of
religious influence in Korea at that time. When I came upon the room devoted to Buddhism,
therefore, it felt disjointed from the rest of the exhibit, both in terms of its content and design.
Unlike all the other rooms in “Treasures from Korea,” which are all painted in highly saturated
hues that complement the objects on display, the Buddhism room’s walls are not painted at all,
which is surprisingly jolting. Another disconcerting aspect of this room’s design is the layout of
the objects. While in previous rooms objects were often grouped or right next to each other in
order to give viewers a sense of unity and immersion into the culture, the objects in the
Buddhism room are comparatively spaced much farther apart, which pushes viewers towards
seeing them as individual art objects without cultural context—a different tone from the rest of
the show. In addition to the fact that it was not made clear in the beginning that the show would
address Buddhist art in Joseon society, these factors make the room divergent from and a
detriment to the show’s big idea.
The last room, The End of a Dynasty, feels disconnected from the rest of the exhibition
because it examines art chronologically when before the exhibition had explored art only
thematically. Whereas in other rooms most objects’ labels did not even give them approximate
dates, this room deals with nothing but dates, chronicling changes in Korean art from the 18th
century when Western influence was first observed in art until the early 20th century, when the
Joseon dynasty ended with the Japanese occupation of Korea. Whereas before audiences weren’t
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asked to think about time and how this affects art, suddenly art is treated as a product of time,
and so the room feels completely irrelevant to the exhibition’s big idea.
Conclusion
Serrell writes that an exhibition, if successful, will be able to show viewers why they
should care about what they see.5 Accomplishing this with art from a culture thousands of miles
and centuries away from us was no easy feat for the PMA. But even with its flaws, “Treasures
from Korea” manages to explain how a 500-year old dynasty followed a philosophy and religion
so faithfully that it seeped into every artwork and aspect of life. Seamlessly integrating
interactive technologies that respond to newer viewing generations’ interests and learning styles,
the show made me appreciate how Joseon screen painters can be as moved by Confucianism to
make paintings of Spirit Houses as Italian Renaissance artists can be moved by Christianity to
paint the Crucifixion. “That the arts mirror the cultures that have created them, reflecting their
customs, aesthetic ideals, and shared values, is to make an obvious, but nonetheless essential
point,” wrote the directors of the three museums in the United States where these objects will
exhibit.6 “Treasures from Korea” compellingly made this essential point, and it is a treasure trove
worth seeing.
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6
Serrell, Exhibit Labels: An Interpretive, 9.
Woo, Treasures from Korea: Arts, viii.
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Bibliography
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Our Future." Philadelphia Museum of Art. Accessed March 13,
2014. http://www.philamuseum.org/ourfuture/.
Serrell, Beverly. Exhibit Labels: An Interpretive Approach. Walnut Creek, CA: Alta Mira Press,
1996.
Woo, Hyunsoo, ed. Treasures from Korea: Arts and Culture of the Joseon Dynasty, 1392-1910.
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2014.