Power of art to revitalize run-down industrial parks, airports

Exhibition view of the Dongnam Arts Center in Changwon Industrial Complex. [Courtesy of Korea Arts Management Service]

South Korea’s “Korea Art Festival” is set to paint the upcoming September with color as it brings exhibitions to industrial complexes, international airports, and youth districts across the country.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism will host contemporary art exhibitions at the Dongnam Arts Center in Changwon and the Sangpyeong Innovation Support Center in Jinju, both of which are in South Gyeongsang Province, in collaboration with the Korea Arts Management Service (KAMS). The exhibitions are part of a pilot project under the “Creating Industrial Complexes with Culture” initiative, which supports art exhibitions in industrial areas.

The Dongnam Arts Center, which opened in 2023, is a cultural facility repurposed from the West Building of the former Dongnam Exhibition Center, which was built in 1989 when Changwon Industrial Complex was built.

The art exhibition, titled “Industrial Complexes and Cities: The Aesthetics of Mechanical Sensitivity,” will be held in a 660-square-meter space, including the exhibition hall and lobby, until September 13th, 2024. The exhibition showcases over 60 paintings, sculptures, and installations by 17 mid-career and emerging artists, including Jeong jeong-ju, Choi Moon-seok, and Roh Sang-jun.

“We have mainly held exhibitions centered on paintings by local artists, but this exhibition will feature large-scale installations, kinetic art, and AI painter robots, which we expect will attract two to three times more visitors than usual,” Dongnam Arts Center general manager Kim Young-ae said.

For its part, the “Sangpyeong Nerve: Memory and Senses” exhibition will be held at the Sangpyeong Innovation Support Center in Jinju Industrial Complex. It will feature installation artist Seo Sung-hyeop‘s work, “Monument of Shells #01-03,” which resembles the tetrapods used in breakwaters.

Crafted from wood, rattan, speakers, and leather, the piece is familiar in appearance to coastal village residents but holds a surprising twist. It is designed to allow viewers to experience multiple senses simultaneously through sound. The artist, whose theme was “hybridity,” explains that “what we believe to be pure is actually created within diversity.”

The exhibition, which runs until September 30th, 2024, also features 14 works from eight teams, including “Chair of Communication” by Lee Eun-sook and Hur Ina, and “Disguised Armor” by Heo Bo-ri.

“We plan to open the Innovation Support Center on Saturdays while this exhibition takes place,” a representative from Jinju City Hall, which manages the center, said. “We hope that local residents can enjoy the exhibition and gain new energy alongside industrial workers.”

Incheon International Airport will also transform itself into an art gallery until November 10th, 2024, coinciding with the fall season when international art events, including Kiaf Seoul and Frieze Seoul, draw attention from overseas art visitors.

The exhibition will feature 16 works by eight emerging artists (teams) from the Korean art scene under the theme of “Ghost Out of the Machine.” The video works, metaphorically portraying the identity of those living in a modern society closely interconnected by networks of cities, people, and buildings, are displayed in various locations across the airport, including departure and arrival halls. English-language docent tours will also be available at the exhibition sites, and the world-renowned airport served an average of 180,000 people per day during the peak summer season in 2023.

Four “Young Exhibitions” featuring next-generation Korean artists will also be held in the popular young neighborhoods of Hongdae and Mangwon-dong in Seoul through September 2024. A policy officer from the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism said, “Although the exhibition-going population has increased in recent years, fueled by the Lee Kun-hee collection exhibitions and the trend of social media certifications, the general public is still keeping its distance from art museums. We will expand support for exhibitions in familiar yet new spaces, allowing people to experience high-quality art exhibitions in their everyday lives.”