Gender Museum Korea
Gender Museum Korea was founded on December 17, 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, as an alternative space to advance women’s and gender culture and history in Korea. It has 12 board members who are active in various fields, including women historians, museum directors, architects, journalists, curators, artists, and more than 100 general members. Although the organization receives funding from several public institutions, including the Seoul National University Social Responsibility (SNUSR), it maintains independent operation and autonomy as its most important principles.
Gender Museum Korea aims to be a creative museum that is not limited by physical space. It conducts various exhibitions and educational programs to foster women’s and gender culture and history in Korea, and at the same time, it aims to realize the global agenda of women in the world and exchange activities with overseas women’s museums. Gender Museum Korea started as a virtual museum and is collecting women’s and gender-related artifacts with the intention of converting to a physical museum in the future.
Gender Museum Korea has been holding pop-up special exhibitions twice a year since its inaugural exhibition, “Women Who Shouted Their Dignity” (December 17, 2020). Korean society is fraught with ideological, generational, and gender conflicts, but these conflicts are also the foundation of the incredible vitality that drives Korean society today. Gender Museum Korea pays particular attention to gender and generational conflicts in the direction of its exhibitions and education, and seeks solutions through cultural and artistic approaches. Gender Museum Korea conducted the Song & Dance Project, titled “Shout Out: 100 women glorified Korean history.”
Through collaborations with feminist artists and educational experiments with students participating in the “From Classroom to Gender Museum” project, it held the following exhibitions: “Sexuality, Love, and Herstory” (July 23~August 10, 2022 at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary History Damda), “Non-binary Collaboration: Young People, Sexuality and Love” (December 28~29, 2022 at the Power Plant 68, SNU), and “Contraception in History” (July 24~31, 2023 at the Garam Lee Byeonggi Hall, SNU). In particular, the “Contraception in History” exhibition attracted a lot of interest from university students and was on tour at the Hanyang University (October 23~November 12, 2023). Several tours are scheduled at universities in the provinces.
Cord Name: Non-Binary Exhibition
The Gender Museum in Seoul South Korea curated a pop-up exhibition titled Cord Name: Non-Binary. Young People, Sexuality and Love, at Seoul National University in early 2023. This initiative also included musical performances, dance, performing arts, and seminars over a two-day period. Many people visited the exhibition and took part in the events including the university president, faculty members, museum directors, students, and the general public. The exhibition was also covered on television.
Kyehyeong Ki
