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South Korea’s National Museum of Contemporary Art in Gwacheon

For the first time in history, a non-Korean has been put in charge of South Korea’s National Museum of Contemporary Art. On Dec. 2, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced that Bartomeu Mari Ribas, 49, a Spanish art director, had been appointed as director of the museum. His term will last for three years.

Mari is known for causing a scandal in Spain about “political censorship.”

“As soon as the new director completes the process of receiving his visa and entering the country - which could be as early as Dec. 14 - he will receive his certificate of appointment from Culture Minister Kim Jong-deok and assume his position,” the Ministry announced.

The Ministry had tried to find a new director earlier in the year - between February and April - before starting over from scratch because of the lackluster credentials of the candidates. During the second round of recruitment, which began in July, the Ministry selected three of 22 applicants from South Korea and other countries to review as final candidates.

The other two final candidates were Seo Myeong-deok, 65, the former president of Sangmyung University, and Choi Seung-hun, 60, former chief curator at the museum.

Mari is a professional exhibition director who served as the art director for Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in the Netherlands and the curator for the Spanish exhibition at the 2005 Venice Biennale. In 2008, he became the director of the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, where he remained until May of this year.

While still director of the Barcelona museum this past March, Mari asked for the removal of a politically satirical sculpture by an Austrian artist that was supposed to be part of an upcoming exhibition called “The Beast and the Sovereign.” When the artist and the exhibition planner both objected, Mari unilaterally called the whole show off, provoking a controversy about political censorship.

Last month, about 800 South Korean artists released a joint statement calling for an explanation of the accusations of censorship and expressing their concern about Mari’s appointment as museum director.

By Roh Hyung-suk, culture correspondent

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]