An office building worth visiting for design and architecture enthusiasts.

Amore Pacific is a South Korean beauty company. It is the parent group of some well-known beauty brands, such as Laneige, Innisfree, Sulwhasoo, Hera, and Etude.

The building is designed by architect David Chipperfield. The architect behind some iconic buildings such as the Neues Museum, Berlin, and Turner Contemporary, UK.

Located in the Yongsan neighborhood, the building is a nice balance of blending in with the surrounding office building during the day and being a modern, romantic standout when lit up at night.

A contemporary art experience hidden in a beauty brand headquarters.

The Museum is not widely known by the public except for art lovers (or those who frequented the building for work). Not to be mistaken for the changing exhibition and event space on the first-floor lobby, the museum is located in the basement.

There is a small ticketing counter near one of the building entrances. However, visitors are encouraged to purchase their tickets online. We did not know about this and when we got there we were told that same-day tickets were sold out. but upon explaining that we are tourists visiting for only a few days and this is our last chance to visit the neighborhood, they let us in.

The main gallery space is in the basement, accessible via one or 2 of the lift lobbies and the staircase by the ticketing counter.

Art Experience:

Elmgreen & Dragset: Spaces

Highlight 1: A large, mysterious empty swimming pool in a museum.

At the time of my visit, the ongoing exhibition was Elmgreen & Dragset: Spaces. it was a survey of the spatial works of Scandinavian duo Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset. The exhibition is organized in collaboration with PACE Gallery.

The gallery is an open, flexible space with a high ceiling. Visitors are free to roam around from one section to another in no particular route. The setup is definitely ideal for large-scale art installations and experiences.

One of the highlights of the exhibit is the Amore Pacific Pool, 2024. It is a large open gallery made to look like an indoor swimming pool space complete with an empty life-sized swimming pool and human figurines.

At the far end of the pool is Surveillance, 2024. It is a life-sized figurine of a young man sitting on a tall chair. He looked like a lifeguard on duty, looking at something through a telescope.

“The drained swimming pool is a recurring motif in Elmgreen & Dragset’s work, suggesting the decline of public space and loss of community today.”

— Amore Pacific Museum of Art

This piece reminds me of another swimming pool work by the artist: Van Gogh's Ear, 2016 that was displayed outside of the Rockefeller Building along Fifth Avenue in New York in 2016. It was a large, empty swimming pool, curved in the shape of an ear and displayed vertically.

Although Van Gogh’s Ears has a different intention and context compared to the Amore Pacific Pool installation, both pieces encourage viewers to question “why?” due to the displacement of this large common object, that is often associated with leisure and public usage.

Highlight 2: A detailed mise-en-scene of a restaurant full of suspense.

The other highlight is a make-believe restaurant, The Cloud. The setup of the restaurant was very detailed and well done, from the props to the lighting and sounds.

Upon entering this restaurant, it felt like an empty, dark high-end restaurant. It looks like the restaurant is closing or already closed. It felt uninviting. There was only a figurine in the restaurant, a lady seated alone at a table in the middle of a video call using her phone.

There is something about this setup that is also suspenseful. The lady looks very realistic, so much so that it is creepy. The mood was that of an old-school thriller movie. For a moment it felt like something was going to happen in the restaurant.

A few tables from the restaurant entrance is a door that leads to the kitchen. The kitchen is industrial and fully equipped. However, it felt more like a sterile laboratory with figurines in lab suits looking through microscopes, props that looked like lab samples, and yellow PVC curtains used for freezer rooms, a stark contrast to the restaurant, but equally creepy.

Highlight 3: A creepy, desolate modern residence and a boy home alone.

The final highlight for me is the Shadow House. A life-sized house with large windows. At a glance, the house seems like any other residence with modern furniture and interior design. Some key modern furniture pieces can be seen from outside the large windows. However, upon entering the house, visitors will notice both big and small unusual details, such as sinks with curled-up, joined pipes.

As a visitor, I felt as if I was intruding on a family’s private space due to the overall ambiance of the gallery. The house is vacant except for a figurine of a boy, standing very close by the window. The boy is facing out of the window, expressionless. The whole vibe of this piece of work is eerie but visitors can’t help but keep looking and exploring the details of the house.

The Korea Times wrote about this exhibition and I think the writer’s description of this specific work matched my experience. Link to the article here.

““It’s almost like a horror movie setup,” Elmgreen said of the deserted family home, noting that the Oscar-winning film “Parasite” was one of the subtle inspirations for the piece. “[In the movie,] a house was the element that triggered the whole narrative, that triggered the whole story.””

— The Korea Times

The Shadow House and Tree of Life by attist duo Elmgreen & draget at the Amorepacific Museum of Art, Seoul — Installation view of *Elmgreen & Dragset: Spaces*, Amorepacific Museum of Art, 2024.

Highlight 4: A welcome lobby with a man hanging on a pole

The final highlight for me is a piece displayed by the museum store and above the staircase leading visitors to the basement gallery space.

It was of a young man hanging on one hand on a pole. I think the placement of this artwork is part of the highlight for me. The idea of displaying this specific work here feels like a no-brainer, like where else would this piece be but in this specific spot?

Visitors can experience the work as they walk up and down the stairs. On the other hand, visitors entering the museum lobby will experience this piece as a unique welcome gesture. I think this is a case where the artwork and the space complement one another and enhance each other’s experience.