Abandoned water purification tower in Seoul’s Garak Market to be reborn as public art

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on May 30 that the abandoned water purification tower in Garak Market in Songpa-gu will be reborn as public art and it will hold an opening ceremony on the 31st. The water purification tower is a large funnel-shaped structure with a height of 32 meters, a diameter of 20 meters at the top, and a water storage capacity of 600 tons, which is the only water tower left in Seoul. It was built in 1986 to store groundwater but was shut down in 2004 due to changes in water supply methods.

Seoul held an international competition to turn the redundant water tower into a public artwork, and American installation artist Ned Kahn's “Rain Veil” was selected as the winner in August last year. The Rain Veil realizes the curve created by connecting a circle of the top 20-meter diameter and that of the bottom 8-meter diameter of the water tower with 100 vertical lines and rotating the bottom circle 122 degrees.

The 1,650 rhombic gaps between the 100 lines were filled with more than 330,000 tiny Durabio pieces to create a moving work of art. Durabio is an eco-friendly biomaterial made from starch extracted from corn and other sources. Inside, "Time of the Sea," which depicts a cross-section of the sea, will be installed. It is a six-color representation of the changes in sea level over 30 years, which was created by 100 citizens.

The opening ceremony will be attended by the artist team, who will explain the work in person, as well as citizens and children who participated in the project.

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.