Installation view of “The Issue: Hyundai Card Library Magazine Collection through the Ages” (Hyundai Card)
The golden age of the world’s five most influential magazines has unfolded at the Hyundai Card Storage in Seoul. Walking through the exhibition hall, you may find some interesting facts about the magazines Life, Playboy, Domus, Rolling Stone and the National Geographic.
The exhibition “The Issue: Hyundai Card Library Magazine Collection through the Ages” focuses on the five leading magazines, showcasing the inaugural editions along with some 300 notable issues of each publication. The exhibition is a display of how each publication has viewed their respective societies and cultures from the 20th century to the present.
“Life,” known as the most influential photojournalism magazine in history, offers a testimony of key events in world history through photographs. Flipping through the magazines, you may find some valuable scenes of South Korea during the Cold War era, immediately following the country’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945).
In “The Beginning of Rolling Stone” section, it chronicles the birth of the magazine, including its famous cover photo of a naked John Lennon and Yoko Ono on display. The cover says, “The Rolling Stone Interview with John Lennon.”
Rolling Stone was launched in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J. Gleason in San Francisco. The name of the magazine was borrowed from “Rolling Stone” by American blues singer-songwriter Muddy Waters and the old saying, a “rolling stone gathers no moss,” according to the Hyundai Card Storage. The cover of the magazine’s inaugural issue features the 1967 film “How I Won the War” starring John Lennon, showing the magazine’s identity as a music-centric publication on society and politics.
Another section shows how the National Geographic was first published in 1888 as an academic geography journal. The publisher, the National Geographic Society, was founded by a group of 33 scientists, educators and explorers who wished to share the results of geographical research and explorations of unknown worlds.
Hyundai Card Library holds a total of 8,991 issues of 11 magazines including the five on display at the exhibition.
The exhibition runs through July 4 at Hyundai Card Storage in Yongsan-gu, central Seoul. Magazine-related merchandise can be purchased at the exhibition.
The exhibition is free of charge, and reservations can be made through Hyundai Card’s culture app, DIVE. Hyundai Card Storage is closed on Mondays.
By Park Yuna (
yunapark@heraldcorp.com)