Innehållsförteckning för April 2017 från Space

It is a fact widely acknowledged that art is beyond imitation and reproduction, but then it is difficult to answer when asked for a definition of what art actually is. Can Isaac Julien’s films about the issues concerning neo-liberalism be considered both artistically and aesthetically excellent? One might consider a work of art to be a work of art if it allows a viewer to cut themselves off from daily life and experience new feelings. In that context, Rancière’s argument that art is essentially political seems suitable when characterising Isaac Julien. Isaac Julien constructed his own disciplinary field through his peculiar multi-screen installations. The exhibition ‘Playtime’ has now opened at the Platform-L Contemporary Art Center. It features three pieces, which make us think about capitalism and globalisation, and they are…

A with the UIA 2017 Seoul World Architects Congress ahead, the International Union of Architects (UIA) board meeting and adjustment board meeting took place at Coex Seoul from Mar. 2 – 5. The agenda set for the board meeting was to examine preparations made for the World Architects Congress in Sep. and to outline the direction of this progress. The participants included 30 UIA board members including Esa Mohamed (president, UIA), Thomas Vonier (secretary General, UIA), and Yolanda Reyes (vice president, UIA region IV), 30 Korean organizing committee members including Bae Byungkil (president, FIKA), Kang Sungik (chairman, board of the UIA 2017 Seoul Congress), Hahn Jongruhl (president, UIA 2017 Seoul Congress), and Seok Jeonghoon (president, UIA 2017 Seoul Congress), and 10 related personnel including Jung Youseung (director-general, Housing and Architecture…

Although I wasn’t able to visit the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale, the homecoming exhibition was held at Arko Art Center. I missed the opportunity to experience the exhibition in its multinational setting, however, I intend to make use of this opportunity to spend more time studying the exhibits at my own leisure. Lately, architecture-themed exhibitions are becoming increasingly frequent, and I anticipate that this will provide a good opportunity to interrogate the question of whether architecture can truly be exhibited. Reading or Appreciation vs. Interpretation or Exhibition I would like to approach this exhibition with two different attitudes. The first is to simply view the exhibited objects through pure impression and with no formal background knowledge. This is from the belief that an exhibition is first and foremost something to…

On a snowy day last February, I visited PyeongChang. Skiers were practicing on the snow-covered valley and squads from many countries were checking the condition of the venues, all hinting that the Olympic Games are not far away. With the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games a year away, PyeongChang, Gangneung and Jeongseon areas are undergoing the final stages of construction. The tower cranes and the rumbling noise of the construction site on the other side of mountain seem to reflect the change to these cities. Focusing on the new sports arena of the PyeongChang 2018, this feature will examine the urban issues of Gangwon-do and the role of architecture and public design in the Olympic Games. Now marks the time to check the present situation on the site and to…

Is the era of spectacular Olympics architecture over? It seems to stand on a quite different status from that of the past. The Seoul 1988 Summer Olympics was an opportunity to showcase the potential of Korean architecture to the world, as well as being a task necessary at the time. Now, there are more concerns about financial problems faced by the hosting cities and the usage of the facilities after the event. Reflecting this reality, the constructions for the Olympics are now focusing on the use of existing buildings, construction with minimum cost, and demolishment after the event. No matter how much the development is limited, the aftermath of the Olympics affect every corner of the city. A new traffic network is created, and colossal stadiums appear here and there…

The landscape of the site faces the Cheonggye House at the southwest and is surrounded by mountains on all sides. The mountains behind the Cheonggye Valley are located about 800 – 900m from the site, stretching out towards the heavens from the base of Mount Jiri, and in contrast, the lake, as if drawing from this power, achieves a carefree, tranquil demeanor. A manmade reservoir, the lake in front of the site (222,084m2 ) is a element of the landscape that did not originally exist. Perhaps this is why such dramatic and mysteriously incidental scenes are produced around this place, as if it were a place that even the gods could not have predicted. With only a few neighbours in this place, there are no political or social confrontations. There…

Routes of Exploring the Sajik 2 District Alleyways Starting from the Heunghwamun Gate of the Gyeonghuigung Palace, we walk by the Korean National Police Heritage Museum, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education and Woram Neighbourhood Park, and then choose the path towards the Sajik 2 District. We take this course because it tells the struggling story of the Sajik 2 District alleyways, in which urban redevelopment projects and urban heritage efforts, such as preparing for the Hanyangdoseong, the Seoul City Wall’s registration as a UNESCO World Heritage site, play critical roles. First, entering into Songwol-gil from the Jeongdong intersection, we see on the right side the construction site of the Donuimun Museum Village, whose name is hard to like. Passing the site’s scaffoldings, we now see, behind the Gyeonggyojang House…

LG Hausys hosted ‘LG Hausys 2017/2018 Design Trend Seminar’ on Dec. 7. 2016. The seminar was on interior and design trends. This year’s keyword is ‘Eunoia’. Eunoia means goodwill towards an audience. The keyword is based on a prediction that the efforts made to ensure a better future for modern people who struggle against social economic problems will be reflected in interior design. It has four themes: PLAY, WILD, LESS, ARCHIVE. Each results in a pleasant stimulus transcending reality, illuminates the importance of forgotten truth and the recovery of what is essential, as well as the recuperation of the self through organisation and the process of locating our future by attending to our history. Park Sung Hee (director, LG Hausys Design Center) highlighted that the ‘different mental status of member…

The used car market goes hand in hand with the backstory to a brand-new car. Nevertheless, some people shake their heads at the mere mention of a ‘used car’, probably because they are in doubt about the product itself and its distribution channels. Could there be a work of architecture that would allow the industry to overcome such inherent limitations and create for itself a new image and structure? Could architecture serve as a medium to channel the emotions and rationality we call trust in a positive light? M Park Hub (Gajwa-dong, Seo-gu, Incheon), designed by SKM Architects (Ken Min Sungjin), was completed in November of last year and is unrivaled in its size and scale. Let’s take a look at how an architect’s work can impact an industry. Sensing…

GANGNEUNG OVAL Architect: SAMOO ARCHITECTS & ENGINEERS (Do Kwon Park) Location: Gangneung Olympic Park, Gyo-dong Gangneungsi, Gangwon-do, Korea Programme: culture and assembly (sports) Discipline: speed skating Site area: 406,472m2 Building area: 24,334m2 Gross floor area: 37,846m2 Building scope: B2, 2F (8,000 seats) Structure: steel structure, reinforced concrete structure Exterior finishing: PIR Panel, THK24 double-pane low-E glass Interior finishing: polished concrete flooring, non-VOC water based paint Structural engineer: ESEN Design & Tech Construction: Sungjee Construction, Chungmi Construction, Hyndai-Asan Construction Design period: Apr. 2013 – Jan. 2017 Construction period: Oct. 2014 – Mar. 2017 Budget: 126.3 billion KRW Client: Gangwon Province GANGNEUNG ICE ARENA Architect: Heerim Architects & Planners Co.,Ltd. (Young Kyoon Jeong) + San Architects Co.,Ltd (Jin-Bong Kim) Location: Gangneung Olympic Park, Gyo-dong Gangneung-si, Gangwon-do, Korea Programme: culture and assembly (sports)…

Olympic Spirit The most important thing in the Olympic Games in not to win but to take part. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well. – Pierre de Coubertin (1896 – 1925) Public Design Promotion Act CHAPTER I Article 1 (Purpose) The purpose of this Act is to contribute to enhancement of the identity and dignity of the State and its local communities and the right of citizens to enjoy culture by prescribing matters necessary to improve the cultural publicness and aesthetic impression of public design. PUBLIC DESIGN AND LOCAL IDENTITY Under the Public Design Promotion Act, public design is defined as the act of design or product pertaining to public facilities that public institutions arrange, install, operate, and manage. However, public design has…

This project is a new house in the old city centre, constructed on the same site of a demolished house in which the client had been living for the past 30 years. As the area surrounding the site is an underdeveloped residential area in a typical old city centre of Korea, the architects concentrated on maximizing the spatial potential of the given site right from the initial stages of planning and were intent upon creating a new housing type for the city centre as opposed to searching for connectivity with the existing urban fabric. The site is a south-facing, square lot—an exceptional site with a 1.5m difference in elevation from the 8m-wide road on the south side to the border of the adjacent lot on the north. The total area…

After 2010, a decisive moment in the careers of multimedia installation artist Mioon (Min Kim and Moon Choi) would have to be ‘Memory Theater’, a solo exhibition at the Coreana Museum of Art in 2014, and Artsolaris released in 2016. When ‘Memory Theater’ elevated their longstanding concern for mass culture onto a platform of broader social and historical implications, no longer treating it as merely a media genre, the project Artsolaris revealed its shallower identity as a specific object on the Korean art scene. Thus, the anonymous crowd has been developed to promote a discourse on publicness across a network made by several famous people. Artsolaris, which began with the work Made in the Laboratory (2009), arrived at its temporary endpoint in ‘Oh, My Public’, a solo exhibition at Paradise…

Ahn Kyuchul, who presents conceptual works revealing the background of life through ordinary objects, opened his solo exhibition ‘Words Just for You’ on Feb. 21 at Kukje Gallery. This exhibition deals with the condition of objects and the property of matter, and shows the critical mind as individual, whereas ‘Invisible Land of Love’, his solo exhibition with more than 340,000 visitors in MMCA last year, was a large-scale project exhibition based on narrative. The exhibition starts with LIFE+ART=LIFE and LIFE-ART=LIFE side by side. This formula is valid if ‘ART’ is nothing. This is a provocative question as artist, and a question that subverts the artist’s identity. Nine Gold Fishes, a fishbowl of centric circles, attracted visitors at his previous exhibition, and at this time, Lingering Time, in which a ball…

On Mar. 10, International Symposium of Architecture & Cultural Policy 2017, hosted by Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism (MCST) and conducted by The Korean Institute of Architects (KIA), held at DDP. This symposium with the theme ‘Air of Culture: Architecture’ explored the examples and results of architecture and cultural policies of all countries of the world, and social and economic influence of foreign architect. Presentations and discussion of five speakers from domestic and abroad continued. Kim Jeonghoo (University College London fellow) presented about British Policy with the title of ‘Policies for Sustainable Cities and Architecture’. He discussed in depth why the architecture policy is important, and where our society has been placed. Kim also introduced a consistent policy on architecture guideline of United Kingdom that establishes national architectural guideline…

The same international design competition was a hot issue in the architecture world back in 2004. The word was that a high-rise apartment building would be constructed by an American architect who was ignorant of the context embedded in an area that stretches from Jongmyo to Namsan. 13 years later, the project was scrapped, Cheonggyecheon was restored, the buildings got older, and people became weary and left. No wonder Mayor Park Wonsoon advertised this ambiguous ‘Maker City’ and stressed that it is different this time during an event held on the rooftop of Sewoon Arcades on 2 March. Though there is no denying that the streets where workshops are concentrated near the Sewoon Arcade are urban heritage, it is also a place of work for many. We met architects of…

Abstraction Through the Overlapping of Glass SPACE: The building façade gives off an interesting impression. We know the aesthetic principles adopted by Kandinsky were the inspiration behind several design features, such as the dynamic rhythm created by the randomly recurring screen-printed glass panels and the architectural volume that appears to have transformed depending on time and the light conditions. In what ways have the recognisable features of Kandinsky’s work been reflected in the façade of SPG? Giovanni Vaccarini (Vaccarini): The material entity, as defined by Kandinsky, is the corpus of our work. It lends itself to a series of geometrical-mechanical experiments, such as the processes of fragmentation, juxtaposition, folding. The surface becomes a plastic floor, on which the overlapping layers achieve a proper thickness. A thick surface is the…

No different white walls, windows that seem to have an abundance of light and views, a yard that is harmonious... Buildings created by JMY architects may not be fancy, but prove that buildings can be charming when they are ordinary. Yoon Jaemin (principal, JMY architects) said most clients, especially in the case of domestic abodes, do not want something radically new and that only few materials and technology can be applied. Also, he commented on the general taste and depth of architecture with which we are already familiar. These outstanding spaces are like good quality rice, plain but tastes sweeter as one continues to chew. Joh Hahn (professor, Hongik University) said during his critique, ‘Scenery created by Yoon Jaemin has a depth with which I have an endless connection’. Yoon’s…

JMY architects’ Cheonggye-ri House right next to the lake in #53 Cheonggye-ri, Sancheong-gun, seems nothing out of the ordinary. The pure white structure looks like as if it is the restoration of an international style building, and the frame which appears as if it is floating in mid-air gives the structure the typical feeling presented by modernist architecture. However, a closer look reveals a different story. What looked at first glance as one frame, receding and protruding here and there, it halts one’s urge to read into the structure. The continuous lines and surfaces, which became hugely popular from Deleuze’s fold concept, was also nowhere to be found. Neither were there any clear tectonic relationships between the protruding slabs and separated walls. There’s also a consistently peculiar feeling presented by…

Art Between Migration and Settlement It’s been years since the winds of change presented the influx of capital to the Yeonnam-dong residential area. We got so used to a word ‘gentrification’ that it now feels like the in-word of last year, and only few people would take inspiration from the changed appearance of the area. The gale of gentrification has already left Yeonnam-dong, and it is now blowing through Mangwondong for a while. It is not difficult to predict the future for other areas, bearing this precedent of Yeonnam-dong in mind, such as Shinchon, Hongdae, Seochon, Bukchon, and Gyeongridan-gil. The flow of capital and people, introducing an unfamiliar pace of life, are as fast as the speed of demolition of old houses. Along with the opening of the Gyeongui line…