Tadao Ando

《안도타다오-청춘》 ⓒMuseum SAN, photo by KIM ILDA

Museum SAN, operated by the Hansol Cultural Foundation (Director Youngju Ahn), is holding Korea’s first large-scale solo exhibition on the architectural world of world-class architect Tadao Ando from April 1 to July 30 in celebration of its 10^th anniversary.

Tadao Ando, a Japanese architect who won the 1995 Pritzker Prize, often referred to as the ‘Nobel Prize of architecture’, is famous for his exposed concrete architecture.

He shows an architecture that conforms to nature using water, light, glass, and exposed concrete as main materials. His most representative work is ‘Church of the Light,’ built in 1989.

‘Church of the Light’ is the best tourist attraction in Japan and is referred to as a global architectural icon.

Tadao Ando has built various buildings around the world, and one of his representative works is the Museum SAN he made in Korea in 2013.

《안도타다오-청춘》1전시장 ⓒMuseum SAN, photo by KIM ILDA

Opened in May 2013, Museum SAN (Space Art Nature), run by the Hansol Cultural Foundation, combines a minimalist architecture of exposed concrete hidden in the mountains with light and space artist James Turrell’s largest work in Asia.

Founded in March 1995, the Hansol Cultural Foundation is a social public interest foundation by Hansol Group advisor Inhee Lee, the eldest daughter of Samsung Group founder Byungchull Lee, with the aim of contributing to the society through corporate cultural and artistic activities.

In the early days of construction, Tadao Ando said, “I wanted to show Museum SAN as ‘a place to regain the power to live,’ and I accepted its design because I was moved by the strong desire of the Hansol Group advisor Inhee Lee.”

《안도타다오-청춘》2전시장 ⓒMuseum SAN, photo by KIM ILDA

Under the ‘Disconnect to connect’ slogan, the Museum SAN contains concepts of enjoying the forgotten leisure of life and relaxation in nature and art through papers and analogue.

In the main building, four wing structures are connected in square, triangular, and circular spaces, which contain the philosophy of Tadao Ando to connect the earth and sky through humans.

It has received multiple praises from powerful overseas media, such as the U.K.’s ‘Financial Times’ and Singapore’s ‘The Artling’.

《안도타다오-청춘》3전시장 ⓒMuseum SAN, photo by KIM ILDA

The Hansol Group has its roots in the Samsung Group, and Chairman Donggil Cho is the grandson of Samsung founder Byungchull Lee. It is a representative conglomerate in Korea engaged in businesses, such as electronics, logistics, IT, chemicals, and Korea’s largest paper-manufacturing company.

In an interview with the U.K.’s Financial Times in 2014, Chairman Donggil Cho said, “We are not pursuing profit, but creating goodwill.” And he added, “Healing is an important keyword in Korean society, and a museum where we can enjoy nature and art is a place of healing.”

빛의 공간(안도타다오)_3_ⓒMuseum SAN

The Museum SAN, which has established itself as Korea’s representative cultural and art space and is visited by more than 200,000 people a year, is holding a special exhibition by Tadao Ando to celebrate its 10th anniversary this year.

The title of the exhibition, ‘Youth’, implies the ‘endless challenge’ of Tadao Ando’s architecture, his belief in making better designs every day, and his sense of challenge in dealing with life.

빛의 공간_5_ⓒMuseum SAN

Several works created from 1969 to the mid-1990s are introduced in this exhibition. This is when Tadao Ando was self-taught without majoring in architecture but still established his own architectural world.

Having established himself as an indispensable architect in the history of modern architecture, he has already held world tour exhibitions in Tokyo (2017), Paris (2018), Milan (2018), Shanghai (2021), Beijing (2021), and Taipei (2022).

This world tour exhibition, ‘Youth’, is Tadao Ando’s 7^th challenge and the first exhibition in Korea held in a space designed by Tadao Ando himself.

The exhibition consists of four sections: the prototype of space, creation of landscape, challenge to the city, and dialogue with history.

Museum SAN

260, Oak Valley 2-gil, Jijeong-myeon, Wonju-si, Gangwon-do, Republic of Korea
+82) 033-730-9000

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