Korea usually does a pretty good job with museums. Seoul has a ton of them, and the mixture of public space and potential educational value makes them a popular government investment outside the capital as well. Also, many of them are free. What’s not to like?
The permanent collection leans towards 20th century painters, with a few galleries focused solely on landscapes of Busan. There was a cool exhibition of contemporary Korean artists as well, very heavy on the video art. (The legacy of Nam June Paik?)
Also, the Okin art collective is pretty rad.
Finally, a warning about Busan cabbies: If you’re a foreigner they will try and rip you off. I was staying at Haeundae Beach, and the ride to the BMA is pretty short. So my older cabbie took it upon himself to try and do a few loops around it with the meter turned off. Don’t hesitate to call these guys on their bullshit (“Mee-ta ga ob-so-yo? Way-o?”) or pull the “foreigner is getting angry” card.
