Anyang Public Art Project 2010

On Saturday Beni and I travelled to Anyang, a Satellite town of Seoul, about 15km South of the Capital to see the ‘Anyang Public Art Project 2010’. This planned city, annually hosts this art event. This year the main theme for APAP was ‘cities temporary-societies nomadic’. The intention was to:

Examine the characteristics of the rapidly shifting modern city, and question the thoughts and convictions of the new community as well as its structure that can be sustained and developed
The nerve centre for the project was in Hagwoon park, a surprisingly verdant and overgrown canal side park that nestled amongst a rather sterile grid city. A jaunty yellow pavilion within the park acted as a receptacle for the project’s events that had occurred over the year. It was full of photos, hand sketches, childrens’ drawings and collective maps of the neighborhood and their perceptions of the urban environment. The artists and organisers had made collaboration with the community the heart of the project, focusing on event based pieces that mixed artistic process with conversation and reflection. Key examples include a complaints choir, a harvest day for students and an open air cinema.

Admittedly Beni and I came on a day where no events were scheduled, but I think we both expected to see some of the results of the project within the wider landscape. Aside from the Park and the funny playhouse that had been constructed, the rest of Anyang seemed to be another typical Korean APT city, hardly achieving the project’s primary objective of ‘Transforming Anyang into a city of Living Art’.

Although we could not see the neighborhood that was talked about, drawn and photographed in the main exhibition centre what did become clear was that there was a variety of opinions expressed about the typical numbered tower block city scape. One of the key maps entitled labeled a sectional illustration of Anyang with the anecdotes from some citizens. Notably ‘in Korea we call APT chicken cage’ to the more institutionalised ‘I prefer Home Plus to E-mart because of its convenient parking system’. I cannot seem to reconcile the two sides of the situation - on the one hand there is  a relentless zeal for the APT within the Korean culture (reflected in their high prices, extensive advertising and their continual construction). On the other hand, there is a strong ambivalence towards them, that becomes apparent through projects like APAP. If you ask most Koreans they will explain the reason for the APT in practical terms - ‘we don’t have enough land, so we have to pile up the houses’.....But i think there is more than a desire for efficiency nurturing the longevity of the APTS.