FLOATING MUSEUM: Opening in June on South Korea’s Anjado Island, Designed by Contemporary Artist Yukinori Yanagi

The museum FLOATING MUSEUM (tentative name), designed and artistically directed by the team “YANAGI + ART BASE” led by contemporary artist Yukinori Yanagi, is set to open in June on Anjado Island in Sinan County, South Korea, according to the announcement.

Sinan County, located at the southwesternmost tip of South Korea, is a small city with a population of approximately 30,000 residing on a total of 1,004 islands, including 72 inhabited islands and 932 uninhabited islands. It is also known as the “Island of Angels” due to the pronunciation similarity between “1004” and “angel” in Korean.

As the region is facing a declining population due to the declining birthrate, aging population, and exodus of young people to cities, the “One Island, One Museum” project will start in 2019, in which Shinan-gun will build a museum or art museum on each island, aiming to become an “island of culture and art” to revitalize the region. Yukinori Yanagi and the team “YANAGI ART BASE” led by Yanagi are in charge of the “Asa Island Project (Anjwa-Do Project),” which was launched in connection with the project and will work on the grand design of the entire Asa Island. The grand design for the “Floating Museum (tentative name),” restaurant, botanical garden, ticket center, and other facilities will revitalize the entire area while maximizing the unique landscape of Asa Island, including the mudflats and vast salt fields that are a UNESCO Natural Heritage site and home to numerous ecosystems. The project has been designed to regenerate the entire area.

The museum is part of the “Asa Island Project” and was designed and art-directed by YANAGI ART BASE to integrate artwork and architectural design. 7 cubes with 4 different concepts and 3 functions (2 exhibition halls and a rest room). In addition to showing archival footage of the “Asa Island Project,” the exhibition will also feature Yanagi’s new works from the “Ant Farm” series, “EURASIA 2021” (2021) and “GANGNIDO” (2021), as well as “Wandering Mud” (2024), a ball of mud in a jet-black space, and “Wandering Salt” (2024), a ball of salt in a light space. Wandering Salt” (2024), a ball of salt in a light space, and other new works will also be exhibited.