The solo exhibition of Australian hyperrealist sculptor Ron Mueck, currently being held at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) in Seoul, is drawing more than 5,000 visitors per day and is expected to surpass 500,000 visitors within two months.

The exhibition surpassed a cumulative total of 100,000 visitors within just 20 days of opening, attracting approximately 4,200 visitors on weekdays and an average of 7,400 on weekends, maintaining strong popularity with a daily average of over 5,000 visitors.
 
 
 
The Blockbusterization of Public Art Museums

Although this exhibition is a joint project between MMCA and France's Foundation Cartier, it is largely led by Cartier and strongly reflects the character of a blockbuster show.
 
The blockbusterization of art museum exhibitions is not an issue unique to Korea. Major museums around the world, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York with its《Camp: Notes on Fashion》exhibition, are also expanding their audiences through large-scale exhibitions tailored to public interest and consumer demand. While this trend contributes positively to the democratization of cultural consumption, it also raises concerns that museums may lose their original roles as spaces for critical reflection and experimental art.

Today, public museums are achieving visible results in audience expansion and revenue generation, but they must fundamentally revisit the question: Why do we, as a society, support the seemingly intangible realm of "fine art" with public resources?
 
The answer is clear. Like basic sciences or humanities, fine art serves as a foundation for exploring the deeper layers of the human spirit and creativity. Just as there would be no AI without semiconductors, art and philosophy serve as the semiconductors of society and the human spirit. A society deprived of spiritual nourishment can never achieve sustainable development or true creativity.
 
Without such a foundation, society becomes consumed by superficial consumption and sensory pleasures, ultimately leading to spiritual desolation. Despite Korea’s remarkable economic growth, public awareness and appreciation of pure art still remain at an underdeveloped stage.
 
Blockbuster exhibitions may offer museums the sweet temptation of capital and measurable success, and while they may be effective in the short term, they risk undermining the identity and professionalism of the institution in the long run. In the end, museums may degenerate into mere distribution centers of cultural commodities, driven solely by popular taste.
 
 

Guggenheim Bilbao: A Successful Model of Balance

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain is often cited as a successful model of how a public museum can balance popularity, artistic integrity, market viability, and public value. Opened in 1997 with Frank Gehry's iconic architecture, the museum sparked the so-called "Bilbao Effect," becoming a symbol of urban regeneration and economic revitalization.
 
However, the true success of Guggenheim Bilbao lies not solely in its architectural symbolism but in its sustained commitment to cultural value and critical practice, which has solidified its role as a cultural city.
 
As of 2023, the museum generated an economic impact of 762 million euros, and in 2024, it attracted over 1.3 million visitors, contributing 777 million euros to the local economy.
 
Juan Ignacio Vidarte, the museum's former director, emphasized, "Architecture is essential, but without programming, content, and systems, success is unattainable," underscoring the critical importance of curatorial vision, sustainability, and depth of content in museum operations.
 
The Guggenheim Bilbao continues to focus on sustained and critical exhibitions, the discovery of emerging artists, close collaboration with local communities, environmental sustainability, and social responsibility. This balanced strategy has established the museum as a genuine cultural platform that fosters social value, creativity, and community solidarity, rather than a mere site of one-off consumption.
 
 
 
Fine art is a product of the human spirit's freedom and imagination, irreducible to capitalist logic.
 
Jean Baudrillard, in "The Consumer Society," criticized how modern capitalism moves beyond material consumption to the consumption of signs and symbols, organizing human life and desire according to consumerist logic. Today, many museums have transformed into spaces that stimulate audiences' desire for experience and validation, aligning with Jürgen Habermas's critique of ‘the transformation of the public sphere’.
 
Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, in “Dialectic of Enlightenment”, criticized the culture industry of capitalist society for standardizing and homogenizing all culture, thereby paralyzing human critical thinking and autonomy. They pointed out that “Culture today is infecting everything with sameness. Film, radio, and magazines form a system. Each branch is unanimous within itself and all are unanimous together,” warning that the culture industry, under the guise of entertainment, strengthens social control and reduces human beings to passive and conformist consumers.
 
Therefore, public museums must resist the sway of popularity and commercialization, reclaiming their role as critical platforms. Curators must leverage their expertise to create original exhibitions reflecting contemporaneity and foster spaces for diverse interpretations. Symposia, artist talks, and community programs must be revitalized to elevate the public's cultural literacy.
 
The essence of public museums lies in balancing popularity and artistic value, marketability and public service. If a museum becomes obsessed solely with box office success and revenue, it loses its raison d'être and its function as a space of social critique and zeitgeist. Large-scale exhibitions must exist only as complementary elements within this balance.
 
Public investment in fine art is not a pursuit of short-term returns but a long-term investment in the society's intellectual soil and cultural dignity. A nation without culture is directionless, and a society devoid of critique and creativity loses its vitality. Fine art is the last bastion that sustains a society's dignity and continuity.
 
In conclusion, public museums must position themselves as spaces that uphold the freedom of the human spirit, creativity, and cultural sustainability, resisting the sway of capitalist logic. This is the essential value that public museums must pursue.

References

• Adorno, T. W., & Horkheimer, M. (2002). “Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments.” Stanford University Press. (Original work published 1944)
  
• Baudrillard, J. (1998). “The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures.” Sage Publications. (Original work published 1970)
  
• Habermas, J. (1989). “The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society.” MIT Press. (Original work published 1962)