In The Meantime [City Within The City]

Installation View of City Within the City at Artsonje Center, 2011-2012 Photo by Myungrae Park

Seoul Loudspeakers [City Within The City]

The project “Seoul Loudspeakers” intend to explore people’s views regarding the existence and the use of loudspeakers in Seoul. Mostly found in rural areas in Korea, Loudspeakers have been used to alert people in villages about urgent situations.

In the installation of the project presented in the exhibition “City Within The City” at Artsonje Center, a table and three chairs are disposed in front of a window with a view of Seoul from the 3^rd floor of the exhibition’s space. The visitor can sit and listen to a sound piece gathering people’s answers regarding the loudspeakers: Questions about their location in Seoul, their history, their alternative uses, the equivalent of this system today and people’s memories. A documentation is also presented, with English translations and traces of these voices.

Le projet “Seoul Loudspeakers” explore les points de vues des habitants de Seoul sur l’existence et le rôle des hauts-parleurs dans la ville. Généralement présents dans les campagnes, ces hauts-parleurs dans l’espace public sont utilisés pour diffuser des informations, notamment des alertes en cas de danger.

Pour l’installation de « Seoul Loudspeakers » dans l’exposition « City Within the City », une table et trois chaises sont placées au 3^ème étage, devant une baie vitrée avec une vue de Seoul. Le visiteur peut s’asseoir et écouter une pièce sonore. Cette compilation regroupe les points de vues d’une quarantaine de personnes sur les haut-parleurs : leur emplacements, leur histoire, leur autres utilités et l’équivalent de ce système aujourd’hui. Les personnes enregistrées partagent aussi des souvenirs. Sur la table est présentée une documentation et le visiteur peut lire des retranscriptions de certaines interviews ainsi que leur traduction en anglais.

City Within The City

CITY WITHIN THE CITY

Artsonje Center, Seoul
12 November 2011–15 January 2012
Opening: November 11, 2011, 6pm

http://www.artsonje.org

※ Participating Artists
Abraham CRUZVILLEGAS, Nayla DABAJI and Ziad BITAR, Alicia FRANKOVICH, Emil GOH, Jinyeoul JUNG and Changmo AHN, Yeondoo JUNG, Ash KEATING, KIM Beom, Jooyoung LEE, Minouk LIM, Listen to the City, Andrew MCQUALTER, Part-time Suite, Hyunsuk SEO, Haegue YANG, Jun YANG, Suyeon YUN and Jinyoung KOH
City Within the City acknowledges cities and urban areas as a prevalent way of life for a large portion of the world’s population today. Approaching cities not as mere statistical entities, this exhibition examines the issues that arise from regarding them as agglomerations of people established over time. As such, they can be experienced as sites of reciprocal action between built environments – historically, geographically and administratively determined – where human subjectivities appear in constant physical, psychological and intellectual reconfiguration.

This first version of City Within the City presented at Artsonje Center, reflects Seoul’s urban structure. The dynamic metropolis Seoul has become bears traces from the impact of industrialization, the devastation of the Korean War, reconstruction under postwar and Cold War regimes, and its emergence as a world presence due to economic growth. These complex factors influence the dynamics specific to the commercial and industrialized zones of Seoul. Increasingly contained within these governmentally and politically demarcated areas, what possibilities for creativity, transgression and resistance exist for the human body, imagination and memory?

City Within the City charts the remembered, fictional, expected and resisted cities as they are publicly and privately negotiated by the individual. Questioning the consequences of and presenting alternatives to formal governmental configurations of city development, several works in the exhibition provide resources and open platforms to reconsider urban spaces as increasingly active sites for creative investigation and transgression.

The works featuring in City Within the City adopt parallel and tangential ways to address different points of friction, misalignments, and moments open to re-imagining existing circumstances. Through this process, the exhibition offers itself as a site for widening the possibilities for engagement with the cities within our cities.

In the meantime [INTRO]

In the meantime, 2010

Daebu Island, as described in tourist brochures, includes the ”ex-islands” of Seongam, Gubong and Tando, which are now all connected by road and have become one island. Lately opened to a fast urban and economical development, a lot of projects are underway, whether touristic, educational or cultural and the geography has already been violently transformed.

Our work and research was basically putting together different points of views regarding the present and the future; through our eyes, as foreigners or “tourists” and through the voices of the inhabitants of Daebu Island.

The installation “In the meantime” focuses on putting these two views in parallel in order to question and anticipate the near future.

(More than just exhibiting the work, our purpose was to intervene in a room in GCC by adding elements without altering the space.)

Dans les brochures touristiques, L’Ile de Daebu inclus aussi les « ex-iles » de Seongam, Gubong et Tando, qui sont maintenant toutes connectées par la route pour devenir une même ile. L’ile est dernièrement ouverte au développement économique et urbain et plusieurs projets sont en cours : Que ce soit dans le domaine touristique, éducationnel ou culturel, le résultat est que la géographie de ces lieux se retrouve violemment transformée.

Notre travail et notre recherche a été de réunir plusieurs points de vues et témoignages sur le présent et le futur.  En tant qu’étrangers ou touristes, à travers nos yeux et à travers les voix des habitants de l’ile de Daebu.

L’installation « In The Meantime », se concentre sur la juxtaposition et la mise en parallèle de ces deux points de vue, dans le but de questionner et anticiper le futur.

한편그동안, In the meantime, 2010

관광 안내서에 나온 것처럼, 대부도는 선감도와 구봉도, 탄도의 세 “외부 섬”들로 구성되어 있으며, 이들은 현재 도로로 연결되어 하나의 큰 섬 구역을 이루고 있다. 최근 이 지역에서는 도시화와 경제 발전이 진행되면서 다양한 관광, 교육, 또는 문화적 프로젝트가 진행되고 있으며, 지형 자체도 큰 변화를 겪고 있다.

우리의 작업과 조사는 관광객, 그리고 외부인으로서의 우리가 견지하는 시각들, 그리고 대부도 주민들의 목소리를 아울러 현재와 미래에 관한 다양한 시각들을 조합해 보는 것이었다.

설치 작품인 “한편 그 동안 In the meantime”은 이 두 관점을 병치해 봄으로써 앞으로 다가올 미래를 예상해 보고 또 문제를 제기하는 것을 목적으로 한다.

(우리가 의도하는 바는 단순한 작품 전시를 넘어서서, 주어진 공간을 변형하지 않는 선에서 다양한 요소들을 더함으로써 경기창작센터 내의 한 방에서 직접적인 “개입”을 하는 것이었다.)

In the meantime/Now Daebudo! 2010

As a starting point, our research has focused on the different slogans and logos of cities in Gyeonggi. In opposition to national emblems, these less formal pictorial images are widely used and associated with tourism or clichés. Interested in signs and symbols as visual representations of power, we decided to create a fictitious emblem, slogan and stickers that could symbolically represent Daebudo in the present and future; as no such imagery has been used yet. The stickers were placed in the townhall of Daebudo (free to take). Also 2 panels with all the logos of Gyeonggi province, including Daebudo, were placed in Gyeonggi Creation Center.

Au départ, notre recherche s’est concentrée sur les différents slogans et logos des villes de la province de Gyeonggi. Contrairement aux emblèmes nationaux, ces symboles, beaucoup moins formels, sont largement utilisés et associés au tourisme et au cliché. Intéressés par les signes et les symboles en tant que représentations visuelles de pouvoir, nous avons décidé de créer un logo, un slogan et des autocollants, qui pourrait représenter l’ile de Daebu, dans le présent et dans le futur ( vu que aucun visuel n’a encore été utilisé). Les autocollants ont été placés à la mairie de Daebu et deux panneaux avec tous les logos de la province de Gyeonggi imprimés ( ainsi que celui de Daebu) ont été placés à l’entrée de GCC.

한편그동안/지금대부도! 2010 In the meantime/Now Daebudo! 2010

우선, 경기도 내의 여러 도시들이 내세우는 슬로건과 로고들을 연구했다. 국가 상징물과는 달리, 보다 캐주얼한 이 그림과 이미지들은 관광 산업, 그리고 상투성과의 연관성이 짙다. 권력의 시각적 재현으로서의 상징과 표상의 역할에 관심이 있었던 우리는 아직 시도되지 않았던 일인 만큼 대부도의 현재와 미래를 상징적으로 대변할 수 있는 허구적 상징물, 슬로건과 스티커를 제작하기로 했다. 스티커들은 대부도 동사무소에 전시되었다. (무료로 가져갈 수 있음) 또한, 대부도를 포함한 경기도 모든 지역의 로고를 그린 두 개의 패널을 경기창작센터에 전시했다.

In the meantime/Voices, 2010

How does the fast urban and cultural transformation affect the inhabitants and their hometowns? How do they relate it to their recent history? All these questioning lead us to record the local residents’s answers on how they would imagine the future of the island.
We decided the recorded material should be broadcasted through the existing loudspeakers in Seongamdo for 3 minutes in the afternoon (different interviews every day) during one week (7days).
This public loudspeakers system is used to broadcast the mayor’s public speeches regarding public events, warnings, announcements or social issues.

Since the authorities of Seongamdo, the mayor and the village chiefs, have refused systematically the proposal, this part of the project remains unrealized. As a response, we decided to create a blog and to broadcast the interviews virtually as it could have been done: http://ndzb.wordpress.com/category/02-in-the-meantime-virtual-broadcast-daily-videos/

Comment le rapide développement urbain et les transformations culturelles peuvent-elles affecter les habitants et leur lieux de résidence? Comment arrivent-ils à garder un lien avec leur passé encore récent ? Ces questions nous ont amenés à enregistrer les réponses des habitants de Daebu sur le sujet du futur de l’ile et comment ils l’imaginent.
Nous avons voulu ensuite diffuser ces enregistrements à travers le réseau des haut-parleurs de Seongam, pendant 3 min les après-midi (différentes interviews chaque jour) et ceci pendant une semaine (7 jours).
Ce système de haut-parleurs est utilisé pour diffuser les discours du « Maire » : Annonces d’évènements culturels, préventions climatiques ou alertes de danger.

Vu que les autorités de Seongam, le maire et les chefs des villages ont refusés systématiquement notre proposition, cette partie du projet reste incomplète. En réaction, nous avons décidé de créer un blog pour diffuser virtuellement les interviews, comme on aurait voulu qu’elles le soient: http://ndzb.wordpress.com/category/02-in-the-meantime-virtual-broadcast-daily-videos/

한편그동안/목소리들, 2010 In the meantime/Voices, 2010

급격한 도시화와 문화적 변화는 지역주민들과 그들의 고향에 어떠한 영향을 미치는가? 또한, 최근의 역사와는 어떠한 관계가 있는가? 이러한 질문들을 바탕으로, 우리는 섬의 미래가 어떻게 될 것 같은가, 라는 질문에 대한 주민들의 대답을 기록했다.

우리는 기록된 인터뷰들을 선감도 내에 설치되어 있는 스피커들을 통해 특정한 한 주(7일)의 오후마다 (매일 다른 인터뷰 방송) 3분 동안 방송하기로 했다. 공공 시설물의 일부인 스피커 시스템은 공공 이벤트, 경고, 공지나 사회 관련 사항들을 마을 대표가 방송하는 데 쓰이고 있다.

동장과 이장들을 비롯한 선감도의 관계자들이 이 제안을 거부했으므로, 프로젝트 중에서 이 부분만큼은 아직 실현되지 못한 채 남아 있다. 그 대신 우리는 블로그 (http://ndzb.wordpress.com/)를 열고 인터넷 상으로 인터뷰들을 방송하기로 했다.

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In the meantime [Poster]

In The Meantime, Poster A2

 

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In the meantime, Saturday [12-18]

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In the meantime, Saturday Broadcast, Seongam-do

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In the meantime, Friday [12-17]

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In the meantime, Friday Broadcast, Seongam-do

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