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| Lee Jae-ho's "Camouflage _ A Phone Booth" / Courtesy of Real DMZ Project |
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Dongsong-eup in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province is a small town near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Some 10 kilometers south of the Southern Limit Line of the DMZ, the town of 15,000 residents is the largest village in Cheorwon and is the commercial and cultural center of the region.
It looks like an ordinary rural village, but the town is a living example of the state of division. The town belonged to North Korea right after the liberation from Japan 70 years ago, and the ruins of the Cheorwon Korean Workers' Party Headquarters still exist. Many Dongsong residents come and go across the Civilian Control Line to cultivate the land inside the DMZ, and the local economy is driven by the military.
"REAL DMZ PROJECT 2015: Lived Time of Dongsong" is the fourth edition of an art exhibit held in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) highlighting elements of the divided Korean Peninsula. This year's exhibit features 49 teams of artists from Korea and overseas.
Previous editions of the exhibit were held in a controlled area within the Civilian Control Line, but this year's Real DMZ Project was moved out to the town where people actually make a living near the border.
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| Jin Hee-woong's "EVERYTHING IS REALLY GOING TO BE ALRIGHT" / Courtesy of Real DMZ Project |
The site-specific works are displayed across the small town from bus terminals and traditional markets to pharmacies and Oriental clinics. The artwork is aimed to pervade into the life of the townspeople, but the abstruseness of contemporary art remains as an obstacle.
Many artists took inspiration from the nature of the DMZ. Artist Shin Ji-sun collaborated with the owner of Pilseung Military Supplies. Shin created designs of flora and fauna of the DMZ.
Kim Lee-park's "Moving Garden ― DMZ," installed in front of The Kind Coffee, consists of wild flowers planted from mud off military boots. The artists collected the soil from soldiers from the town to emphasize that plants freely cross the border.
Chung Won-yeon knitted small flower bouquets and provided them for props at the Huimang Photo Studio where soldiers of Cheorwon took photos holding the knitted flowers.
Lee Jae-ho contemplated on the significance of communication in the DMZ, where the North and South Korean forces stand face-to-face, through "Camouflage_A Phone Booth." The artist covered a public phone booth, in which soldiers on leave make calls, with a camouflage net made of cable ties, transforming the booth into a guard post.
French artist Alain Declercq presented a six-minute video piece titled "HEADQUARTERS," which offers a foreigner's view on Korea's current situation. Declercq captured soldiers playing war games at computer gaming lounges during their leave.
The exhibit runs through Aug. 23 in Cheorwon and is then transferred to Artsonje Center in Seoul through Nov. 27. For more information, visit www.realdmz.org or call (02) 739-7067.
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