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Re : ______________Past
  • Dates2018.11.17 ~ 2018.12.23
  • PlaceSukcheon Hall
  • Time10:00 ~ 18:00
  • OrganizerKiswire, Busan City, BSCF
  • Ticket priceFree Admission
  • Contact info82-51-754-0432-3
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International Exchange Exhibition of Cultural Spaces using Abandoned Industrial Properties

"Re_________________"


Curator’s note


The growth-oriented paradigm that has long driven our economy is now transitioning into a period of stability and low-growth. This compels us to give serious thought to new ways of life, regeneration, and sustainability. Closed-down industrial facilities are one of many subjects requiring such consideration. In light of the changes in industrial structures themselves and the need for spaces to accommodate the new technologies that are perpetually being adopted, old industrial facilities invariably relinquish their spots to make way for new spaces. When a once-vital space closes its doors, it is no different from the natural biological cycle of birth, aging, illness, and death. This exhibition focuses on the process of drawing on the power of culture and arts to infuse new life, as if performing CPR, into these abandoned spaces after their usefulness is past.

The Korean word “jae-sang” (再生) means revival or regeneration, from the Sino-Korean characters meaning 'again' or 'repeated' combined with 'birth' or 'life'. Here, the meaning of 'jae' (re-) is relatively clear in the sense that a shut-down industrial facility is being repurposed after its original purpose is defunct. As for the remainder of this title, what about ‘saeng’, or ‘life’? Like a magic card, once you attach it to any word, it will vitalize anything. The thing is to examine how this magic card works. This exhibition is a journey to find various aspects of 'saeng' or [fill in the blank]. Like filling in a blank, let's find out about the energy of [fill in the blank] that brings spaces back to life.


The exhibition begins with an archive of several overseas cases involving culture revitalization of shut-down factories and other industrial facilities. In Europe, where the industrial revolution occurred sooner than Korea’s, the revitalization of abandoned industrial facilities also preceded ours. A variety of books and other materials are on display, showing how an array of industrial heritage sites are being renewed and reused, with the cases organized according to type.


Central to this exhibition are the overseas cultural spaces in repurposed industrial facilities with which Busan Metropolitan City and the Busan Cultural Foundation are involved in exchange projects. In the Saha-gu district of Busan, the Hongti Art Center has been established as a creative space in the old Hongti port, near the Rainbow Industrial Complex. Using the Center as a base, the Busan Cultural Foundation is engaged in artist exchange programs with cultural spaces overseas. Some of these cultural spaces, transformed from defunct industrial facilities, are the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, UK; Pier-2 Art Center in Kaohsiung, Taiwan; and BankART 1929 in Yokohama, Japan. The exhibit shows the kind of programs being run by these cultural spaces, and how they interact with the community. Some works by artists who have participated in the exchange program are also on display. Artworks explicitly incorporating elements of the former industrial facility as part of the artwork are featured, as well, serving to vitalize the entire space. The archives together with the works of the artists in the exchange space create one continuous flow throughout the gallery, providing a direct line to the energy of cultural exchange.


In addition, a section showing alternative practices in Denmark illustrates the limitations of cultural regeneration projects, along with directions for alternative ways of achieving regeneration. Conventional exchange spaces are run with municipal public funds. In the social democracy and public welfare powerhouse of Denmark, on the other hand, while public subsidies do exist, there are cases of successful alternative spaces established in repurposed industrial facilities under the direct operation of artists themselves. In some cases, alternative spaces where alternative art is freely exhibited are being pushed out by booming real estate development, left with no option but to search for new spaces even further into the outskirts. When it comes to such industrial site reuse projects, this raises issues of gentrification that cannot be ignored. A public sculpture anthropomorphizing one of these structures offers a fresh perspective, allowing the meaning of regeneration to be viewed from the vantage point of a subject other than a human being.


A final consideration concerns exchange between visitors to this exhibition venue and the space itself.  Visitors are directly confronted by these questions in the 'Fill in the blank' section, a space for community art projects and various adjunct programs, which occupies a large area in the middle of the gallery. The works displayed here were made through the direct participation of local residents living in the vicinity of Hongti Art Center. Whereas this sort of community art is focused on interaction between artists and the public, the ‘Re:___’ exhibition focuses on the energy given off by the visitors filling the space.


A defunct and shut-down industrial facility does not simply mean that a space has lost its function; it also means that the people who once worked there have disappeared. In that sense, it is not simply a case of the facility’s own natural life cycle, but rather an effect that has spread across the whole region. In many cases of cultural regeneration, we can confirm that regeneration is complete when more people are drawn to the site. Those who visit the F1963 cultural complex also receive the energy of the art that fills this space and produces living energy that is shared not only within this space, but wider still throughout the surrounding area.


Guest Curator Heechae Moon

P​eriod

November 17 - December 23, 10:00 - 18:00 (Closed every Monday)

  

Venue

Sukcheon Hall, F1963


Admission

Free

 

Artist

[UK] BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art - Yura Kal, Dongchan Kim

[Japan] BankART1929 - Junko Maruyama, Keisuke Takahashi, Yunsun Jung
[Taiwan] Pier-2 Art Center - Chihchung Chang, Huilin Chuang, Wonjin Kim
[Denmark] Fabrikken, Kulturtårnet, New Shelter Plan, Randi & Katrine
Community Art - Sangdeok Bark, Youngjoo Cho

Curated by 

Heechae Moon 

 

Organized by

Busan Cultural Foundation
Yoonjin Choi(Manager)
Jinsub Kim
Miji Kim
Jiin Chung


Coordinated by
Chaeeum Lee​