Park Seo-bo Museum to Open on Jeju Island in Summer 2024

The Park Seo-bo Museum, the first museum dedicated to leading Korean contemporary artist Park Seo-bo, will open on Jeju Island, South Korea, in summer 2024. Located near the JW Marriott Jeju Resort and Spa, the museum is designed by Spanish architect Fernando Menis, who incorporated local materials and his signature Picado concrete-basalt mix. The building features two underground floors with exhibition spaces and a multipurpose hall, plus a ground-floor entrance hall, all set within a 12,137-square-meter park. The museum is managed by the GIZI Foundation, a nonprofit established in 2019 to oversee Park's works and archives. Park Seo-bo, born in 1931, is a founder of the Dansaekhwa movement, known for his introspective, meditative approach rooted in Taoist and Buddhist philosophy and Korean calligraphy. His famous Ecriture series evolved from pencil lines on canvas to colored works in the early 2000s. Despite a lung cancer diagnosis in February 2023, Park continues to create, stating he has chosen to accept the illness as a friend. The museum aims to harmonize with Jeju's volcanic landscape, which already hosts iconic structures like Álvaro Siza Vieira and Carlos Castanheira's Jeju Island Tea House, Planning Korea's Jeju Cocoon House, and Doojin Hwang Architects' Wind Hill Village.