Looping Stories of the City: Gone and Reborn
As a resident of a 40-year-old high-rise apartment, I feel conflicted about redevelopment: can we build something new without erasing the past?
This work—a miniature of the redevelopment process in the form of a box—explores that ambivalence through mixed media. The exterior is collaged with photographs I took of my neighborhood, preserving traces of soon-to-disappear buildings. Opening the lid reveals an interior where contrasting colors and textures symbolize both the bright and dark sides of redevelopment. A sensor activates a digital screen that loops nineteen photographs of the construction process, while closing the box conceals the future—underscoring the uncertainty that lies ahead.
Overview
Mixed Media Installation
Media
Shape of Time in the City: The Old & The New
The Old and The New explores the changing aesthetics of Seoul’s signboards. The Old draws from Eulji-ro, a historical district filled with aged signboards, while The New is inspired by Garosu-gil, a recently developed neighborhood with sleek, modern designs.
For The Old, I collaged my photographs into computer-generated outlines of buildings resembling those of Eulji-ro. Set against unpaved soil roads and viewed from a top-down perspective, the work emphasizes the small scale and fragile presence of aging structures. One piece further extends this concept through the combination of digital collage and 3D form.
In contrast, The New depicts modern buildings from a bottom-up perspective to emphasize height and ambition. Positioned against paved cement roads, the work highlights urban modernity, with one piece again expanding into 3D through the use of diverse media.
Overview
Media
Mixed Media
My Grandfather’s Memory: Faction
Faction grew out of my desire to preserve the memories of my grandfather, who is now in his nineties. Having fled to South Korea just before the Korean War, he remembers little of his early life in the North.
In an effort to help him recall his past, I interviewed him about the places he had lived and worked in the South. Yet when I visited those sites, I found that redevelopment had erased their old appearance. This made me realize that memory is a fragile collection across time and space—often closer to fiction than fact.
What mattered most, however, was that the process brought him joy. Even if I may never see the North and he will never return, we are able to share these reconstructed memories together.
Overview
Media
Video