Bark at art: this exhibition in South Korea is for art lovers and their dogs

After months of lockdown with our four-legged companion, it's rather difficult for some owners to leave them alone at home.

That's why a South Korean institution decided to launch an exhibition called A Museum For All, A Museum For Dogs.

This one-of-a-kind show centres around the diverse meanings behind the notion of "companionship" and of "division of territory" between humans and animals.

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul (MMCA) wants to be a cultural institution open to the whole family, and that includes domestic animals, considering that 30% of Korean households own a pet. And so they created an exhibition that is fully adapted to our canine friends.

"Companion animals are now part of many families, but few public places are allowed for canine visitors, not to mention museums," curator Sung Yong-hee told Korean Times. "For this exhibition, it is more like dogs infiltrated into the museum space, not humans inviting dogs to the museum."

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul wants to be a cultural institution open to the whole family, and that includes domestic animals. Photo: AFP

To organise this show, the institution asked experts in different fields of architecture and animal behaviour to conceive an exhibition space adapted to humans and their furry companions.

A Museum For All, A Museum for Dogs centres around 20 works and installations by local artists: Jung Yeondoo, Kim Yongkwan, Kim Kyung Jae, Kim Jungsun and Kim Jaelee.

The exhibition encompasses dance and music performances, videos, artworks, sound installations, robot performances, animation and mixed media works to address the theme of animals' presence in museums, and it attempts to do away with certain stereotypes that exist about museums.

While A Museum For All, A Museum For Dogs was conceived to be dog-friendly, visitors will only be able to visit the exhibition with their pet until Oct 25 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Dogs won't be allowed in the space on Sundays. - AFP