Anyang art project seeks smart social design

By Ines Min

Staff reporter

Korea is undoubtedly a fast-developing country and the past four decades have seen a dramatic change in both landscape and cultural perspectives. One side effect of such steep growth has been a lack of focus on design, leading to uninspired architecture and eyesores of community centers.

The Seoksu Art Project 2010 (SAP 2010) opened last weekend, as part of efforts by the Anyang Public Art Project Foundation to combine aesthetics with function in the city. Organized by the nonprofit art space Stone & Water, the event seeks to bring new design ideas to old spaces.

Comprised of an international residency program, an Asian artists exchange group and the local community, participants from each area will work together to help transform the surrounding society through design plans. Twelve different countries are represented in the group, including Korea.

For an introduction to the works by the artists, two days will be dedicated to presentations this weekend, including ones by photographer Katrin Murbach from Switzerland, Riikka Tauriainen from Finland and Indonesian Jim Allen Abel, among others.

Weekly Saturday excursions through the county will provide artists and other participants an opportunity to learn the historical and contemporary aspects of the area, including exploring even the smallest alleyways to discuss design possibilities.

Since the 1950s Seoksu-dong has been the home to a large-scale film studio. In another interactive portion of the project, people of all ages and artistic backgrounds are invited to enter their film submissions (of any genre). Selected films will be screened in September, at the end of the project.