translation _번역

American marine biologist Rachel Carson alerted the world to the dangers of environmental and water pollution caused by science and technology through 『Silent Spring』 (1962), warning of the devastating adverse effects on the earth and various species. Thus the United States became aware of serious environmental concerns confronting them and alerted people around the world with this signal of danger. Against this background, the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCEC) announced the concept of ‘sustainable development’ in its 「Our Common Future」 report (1987), defining ‘sustainable development’ as ‘development that fulfills the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to fulfil their own’.

What will be ‘Needed’, ‘Fulfilled,’ and ‘Developed’?

Industrialization achieved by scientific civilization has made it possible to move goods quickly, and more food and resources are being distributed today. The mass production system has functioned as a role that provides a comfortable place to live, but at the same time, it has accelerated the side effects of disasters, viruses, and the crisis of wealth inequality due to the climate crisis. These threats are our near future and are already a reality. In 2015, the 70th UN General Assembly resolved to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, presenting the slogan “Leave no one behind”. If so, what should we or the ‘community’ ‘develop’ to be ‘sustainable’ prior to the resolution of ‘Our Common Future’? The desire to lead a better and safer life, the primal desire for survival, and the desire for a life without threats are also the aspirations of all. However, global crises – poverty, violence, war, climate crisis, and inequality – appear here and there, urging action for immediate change, though inequality follows in improving the problem.

Stability and security, anxiety that has not yet come to pass

This problem is large and complex. It is difficult to narrow the distance between the desperately lived-out realities of today and the macroscopic stories of sustainable cities, living grounds, and future generations. The space in which life used to take place, which had not yet been rendered uncomfortable, had dulled our ability to sense the violence and crisis happening right next door. The convenient comforts of the capitalist structure and the anxiety that came from being unable to obtain ownership determined the direction and form of an individual’s life. However, faced with  the long-awaited ‘common future of us all’, we can no longer regard all issues as individual choices. We need a perspective that rethinks the somewhat complex and uneven way in which the gaps and conflicts between cities and past events are continuously intertwined.

<Crossing through Art – Where Desire Escapes : Locales of Emergence>, an in-depth public art project hosted by Hysterian, deals with the 11th goal of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ‘Sustainable Cities’. It seeks artistic practice methods for the im/possibility of the public community of the city, and considers how to transform the multi-layered stories of life that are not revealed by figures and indicators, attempting to switch such stories into everyone’s ‘common senses.’ In order for us to live sustainable lives, we suggest ‘thinking differently’ rather than ‘achieving’ our goals. Wishing for growth, development, and development, escaping from the attitude of treating only the desired structure critically, we look at the places in our hearts where everyone harbored an aspiration to live safe lives. Paying attention to the ‘Hidden’ stories that could not be revealed in the existing systems of desire that emphasized ability and growth, we put hope in the possibility that the hidden side will lead us to a sustainable living environment.

Hysterian borrows the concept of ‘Multiple Scales’, a key methodology of mobility theory, to look into the unequal city. The fixed-scale way of thinking that works when trying to understand a social problem within a specific region at the level of a solid geographical unit (place, region, country, continent) reduces the whole and looks at the problem from a rather narrow perspective. Our project criticizes this way of thinking, choosing to scatter ourselves around different areas rather than to focus on specific regions and problems. In 2020, from the accidental and spontaneous connection of ‘Seoul-Buyeo’ to Jeonju, to the metropolitan area (Siheung, Gyeonggi), Chungcheong area (Seocheon, Ganggyeong), Gyeongsang area (Changwon, Ulsan), Jeju, and Oceania (Australia), we wanted to share a common, shared sense through the concept of ‘mobility’ by moving freely about without a fixed destination. In addition to regional scale expansion, we made active attempts to cross the boundaries of genre, gender, age, and occupation within the project. The team structure, largely composed of a research team, a planning team, and an artist team, studied discussions, cases, and concepts from the past, conducting stories and attempts necessary for the present, and pursued clues and shapes of the future. This project seeks to find an artistic methodology that leads to change by analyzing the problem of crisis surrounding the places where lives are lived by facing the somewhat abstract but intrinsic human motive of ‘desire’. Crossing scales and territories, they appear and disappear here and there with cultural and artistic planners, researchers, artists, activists, and other as-of-yet-unmet people who share a critical mind.

* Hysterian is a visual research and publishing collective that has been organizing seminars, studies, and zines since 2018, bringing together curators, artists, researchers, and activists to share their critical insights and concerns. From 2018 to 2021, the team published the periodical “Biteulnyeon.” From 2022 onwards, the collective has been conducting Season 2 of the project “Soomtangeot – Odradek.” https://www.hysterianpublic.com/

PART 2.

Sufficient and safe suitable housing ‘No Fixed Address’

Ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services, and improve slums by 2030. (Sustainable Development Goal 11.1)

Where is the space for ‘everyone’? How is access to basic services guaranteed? Are the most minimal of spaces safely constructed so that they can be protected in a crisis situation? Does a sufficiently safe dwelling have a place for everyone to rest? Does everyone have the freedom to stay where they wish? Beyond the space that is replaced by problems of care and management, we carve out places for ourselves by heading for a residence without a fixed address.

‘A land without Roads’ heading towards a public place for the public

Target 11.7 Provide inclusive, safe and universally accessible green and public spaces by 2030.

The Land that Lays the Golden Egg harbors the desire for a better future, a better way of life. The banner of the ‘luxury lifestyle’ divides the territory between my land and your land. The old traces of the sea, the landfills that blocked the waterways, are waiting for a new wind of abundance, but the nameless dead are also submerged. What are the questions we need to ask for green land and public, universal space for all?

‘Behind the Scenes’ for Integrated Urban Area Development Planning

Support positive economic, social and environmental links between cities, peri-urban and rural areas by strengthening regional development planning by 2030.

The struggle to attract fast transportation to the big cities fuels conflicts between regions. A stable natural environment is easily converted into economic value, and profit follows value. Even among the various species that naturally gather along the waterway of the river, there is a difference in the ownership hierarchy, and the old thriving appearance disappears without a trace. Between the desire for a safe living environment, skyrocketing house prices in the metropolitan area, and the extinction of the region, can the river hold its life and flow for thousands of years? Urban regeneration, development, tourism, and cultural projects are expected to inflow and spread for development and development, but where is the sense of sharing common things? Also included are behind-the-scenes talks surrounding urban planning in Seoul, Jeonju, and Buyeo.

The ‘Endless Road’ to find the land where ties are severed

By 2030, strengthen inclusive and sustainable urbanization and participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management capacities in all countries.

How are the geography and environment surrounding us organized? How will the sounds of land, wind, and unknown insects affect our lives? Can we find a residence without a fixed address, a land where everything can coexist? Indigenous people who have been deprived of their life-long hometowns to become cheap laborers are deprived of land that was handed down to them across the generations. A place that has been replaced by alienation and exclusion is fenced off for reasons of ‘safety’. Following the footsteps of the history of Australia’s aborigines, called ‘the Stolen Generation’, we head off on a road that leads through the sands of the desert, a wasteland that has never been cultivated. A land where bonds are cut off inherits various heritages of the times. Sensing the land that has thousands of years of history on Earth, this journey without coordinates crosses 4,000 km in a moving house.

PART 3.

Straight paths seem to stretch to infinity, but they keep us in temporary places with limited resources. The old stories passed down by word of mouth were only heard when we walked up a winding mountain path or approached a stream, and the path did not take us to the exact address we wanted. Lost cities, abandoned as obsolete, ignored as frivolous, or ravaged by time, were our past, present, and future, and their stories were not merely localized to limited areas.

⃝ ⃝ Geumlando, Gunsan-si, Jeollabuk-do

It crosses Gunsan City and Seocheon County and is located at the mouth of the Geumgang River. ✦ was created by dredging and reclaiming soil deposited by the Gunsan and Janghang ports. It was named the “Island of Abundance that Lays the Golden Egg” because of the intertwined interests of the two regions over development and the environment. The island has been drifting in the Geumgang Estuary for 30 years.

⃝ Crystal Village, Masan Happo-gu, Changwon Special City

✦ was a small village with a beautiful bay with seawater, but when the bay was reclaimed, deep conflicts between residents began. A shipyard was to be built on the 80,000 square meters of landfill, but the landfill was left unattended for 15 years as rifts of dissent grew between opponents and supporters of the development project. Recently, the landfill was sold to a private company.

⃝ Turtle Island, Siheung-si, Gyeonggi-do

An artificial island created by reclaiming the sea, ✦ is a center for tourism and leisure, with Asia’s largest artificial surfing park, Wave Park, and a large complex cultural facility. It was expected to create jobs and revitalize the local economy, but it is mostly vacant because the construction has not been completed and commercial spaces in the shopping center have not been successful in getting leased.

⃝ Bamseom Island, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul

The river cliffs on the eastern and western sides of ✦ were called “Little Haegeum River,” and the island was blown up and dismantled in February 1968 to build the embankment needed for the development of Yeouido. Most of the ✦ was lost and the center of the island was intensively dug up, dividing it into the upper ✦ and lower 000. The upper ✦ is a bay, an important habitat for birds, and a designated Ramsar site. The area of the land mass is increasing due to repeated river deposition.

⃝  Ganggyeong-eup, Nonsan-si, Chungcheongnam-do

✦ is a city that was once one of the three major trading centers of the Chosun dynasty due to its proximity to the sea. Today, it has lost its role as a port, as the construction of the Geumgang River estuary bank has prevented large ships from entering the area ✦. The confluence of the Nonsan Stream, Ganggyeong Stream, and Geumgang River can be seen from the observation deck at Oknyeobong.

⃝  Jeoja-do, Oksu-dong, Seoul

✦ was created when the Jungnangcheon Stream, which flows through Yangju, Gyeonggi Province, and Oksu, Seoul, met the Han River. However, ✦ has existed since ancient times and was famous as a beautiful island. It has been submerged ever since most of the island’s soil and sand was used to bury the Apgujeong landfill. However, after 50 years along the natural course of the Han River, ✦ has reappeared, is now a home and habitat for freshwater cormorants and migratory birds.

⃝⃝ Gyuam-myeon, Buyeo-gun, Chungcheongnam-do

The former capital of Baekje, ✦ has a population of about 60,000 people and is concerned about its own demise, both internally and externally. As it is a center for tourism and leisure, various attempts are being made to revitalize the Geumgang River, which is called the Baekmagang River. There is much talk of historical and cultural resources.

⃝ Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do

Jeonju is the largest and most populous city in Jeollabuk-do Province, and it holds the title of Tourism and Culture City. The Noseong Village, which flows along the ✦, has been experiencing severe odor and dilapidation problems, and restoration work has been carried out as of late. Recently, the local government cut down hundreds of willow trees around the Jeonju and Samcheon streams to prevent flooding. ‘Seonmichon’, a gathering place for sex workers near the old station, closed their last operating brothel, and the urban regeneration project ‘Seonongchon Village Art Village Project’ was also completed.

⃝ Janghang-eup, Seocheon-gun, Chungcheongnam-do

✦ is categorized as a region that has been an active economic center in modern history, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, but is currently at risk of extinction.

Today, the area is home to a granary and a port where goods were transported, vestiges of the Japanese occupation. The smelter, no longer in operation and with only its smokestacks remaining, left behind the uninhabitable land of Brafield, and parts of the smelter have since been moved to ✦.

⃝  Onsan National Industrial Complex

✦ was selected as a national industrial base in the 1970s and is home to a variety of chemical and paper factories. A memorial monument honors those who lost their homes to the development of the complex. A pollution-related disease that occurred in the ✦ area in the 1980s was named after ✦.

⃝  Seongmi-san Village, Mapo-gu, Seoul

✦ is one of the neighborhoods in Seoul with the highest rent, and is experiencing gentrification. With the loss of unique cultural and community spaces due to rising rent prices, it is becoming increasingly important to have spaces that can serve as a hub for the neighborhood. Many of ✦’s major cultural and artistic spaces are no longer operating due to the end of their private contract with the Seoul Metropolitan Government. In some cases, local social enterprises and private organizations have come together to create local assets.

⃝ New Dream Children’s Park, Yongsan-gu, Seoul

✦ is located near Seoul Station, between skyscrapers, and densely populated with “chokbangchon,” rooms about one square meter in size. For the residents, ✦ serves as a kind of living room, a place to cool off in the heat and interact with others. Currently, the area is undergoing a public housing project for redevelopment, and there is much controversy between the owners of the shantytowns, who argue against ‘private property violation,’ and the users of these rooms, who focus on their ‘right to housing.’

⃝ Jeju City, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province

Georo Village (巨老), which had been established for more than 600 years since the late Goryeo Dynasty, was long famous as a place where people, knowledge, and goods were distributed, and it was home to many people of great talent, intellect, and genius. The April 3rd Uprising in the 1950s burned down not only Georo Village, but also nearly all the villages, and there were countless victims of the massacre that ensued. “Cultural Space Yang,” located in ✦, is a space where the villagers who were scattered returned and built up a space of their own by their own hands. The villagers are currently carrying out the “Georo Archives” project.

⃝  Australia (Oceania, Australia)

The history of migration began with the British transporting convicts to the colonies, but the first Aborigines lived there before the Europeans arrived. Looting, initiated by the arrival of settlers who chased out and replaced the indigenous Aborigines, marked the beginning of settlement and the origin of ✦. Humans have a history of migration, from savagery to civilization. The Aborigines crossed the desert for ten days to reach Uluru, a sacred mountain, and along the way found what they believed to be a lost village.

English Title of the work

<Neither One Nor Two> <Indicators that Exist but do Not> <Being Buried in the Meandering River,  Grassy Sandbanks, and Sandy Banks>

Postscript

The exhibition <Abode without Mobility, Mobility without Abode : Obdradek> analyzes the urban problems we face today from the abstract motives of individual and societal ‘desire’ and proposes ’emergence’ as a practicable method to sense the possibility of a ‘sustainable living place’ together.

Based on Hysterian’s 2021 public art research on the relationship between public/private space and productivity from the perspective of the commons, the project seeks to actively call out those who have not been captured by the statistical figures of the ‘consensual public’, i.e. the ‘UN Sustainable Development Goals-Sustainable Cities’, throughout 2022 and 2023. Starting from a network in Buyeo, Seoul and Chungnam, the project traveled to Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do for two years, then to the Seoul metropolitan area (Siheung, Gyeonggi), Chungcheong-do (Seocheon, Gangyeong), Gyeongsang-do (Changwon, Ulsan), Jeju, and Oceania (Australia).

As we moved freely from place to place using various means of transportation in pursuit of our personal and public “desires,” what we found were the places of those who were paradoxically immobilized and those who were pushed out of their original places. The distinction between useful and useless creates hierarchy and disparity, and acts as a power to restrict someone’s right to move and access. The object-philosophical concept of ‘Object+Odradek’ proposed in this exhibition is visualized as the opposite of ‘functionless materiality’ and appears in the subway station-Seoul Metro Museum of Art, where tens of thousands of people come and go every day.

The exhibition introduces ‘Odradeks’ that have appeared here and there along their mysterious journeys, and the research materials of planners, researchers, and artists that could not be captured in the exhibition, as well as clues to imagine what comes next, can be viewed at Insadong Court – Knob (3F).