Park Han-sol reports on Korea's financial regulators, along with fintech and insurance. She previously wrote about the art world, from biennales and exhibitions to fairs and auctions, with a focus on Seoul and the figures shaping the scene. Before joining The Korea Times, she spent a year at ABC News' Seoul bureau, contributing to coverage of major Asia-Pacific events.
Abandoned rural schools reborn as art galleries, animal shelters
The old Seongnam Elementary School building has been reborn has Kil Hyun Art Gallery, an exhibition space and arts and crafts center since 2010, in Namhae, South Gyeongsang Province. Courtesy of Namhae County's official blog
By Park Han-sol
By Park Han-sol
As the birthrate continues to plummet in Korea, hitting a new record low of 0.84 child per woman last year, schools in rural counties have been hit hard. It's not hard to find closed schools across the peninsula, after the young populations they once served dwindle and disappear.
South Gyeongsang Province has been no exception, with 584 former schools standing as of 2021. However, in recent years, more and more of these empty facilities have started transforming into other public cultural institutions ― art galleries, libraries, with one even earmarked for an animal shelter. As a result, only 86 of these schools remain unused currently.
In Namhae, the old Seongnam Elementary School building, which had been abandoned since 1999, was reborn as Kil Hyun Art Gallery in 2010, named after its director, artist Kil Hyun.
“Even just a decade ago, I believed that Namhae remained as one of the most isolated regions in terms of culture,” he told The Korea Times. “There was a movement to found a proper cultural institution in the region, and since my home was in Hadong (about 34 kilometers away from Namhae), I decided to come here and establish one myself.”
The gallery, which retains many of the original features of the old school building from blackboards to wooden chairs and squeaky floorboards, has served as a platform for small-scale exhibitions as well as arts and crafts classes for local students and residents.
“There are four arts education programs running year-round for students, residents and senior citizens of the region. Their schedules are very similar to that of an actual school as they run from March to December, with around 20 attending each class.”
The facade of the old Soungsan Elementary School has been transformed into a new camping-themed library, Gayasan-dokseodang Junglebook in Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang Province / Courtesy of Gayasan-dokseodang Junglebook
"Bungalow" camping space of the Gayasan-dokseodang Junglebook / Courtesy of Gayasan-dokseodang Junglebook
Soungsan Elementary School in Hapcheon, which shut down in 2019, is another building that was given a new life last year as a large camping-themed children's library, Gayasan-dokseodang Junglebook.
Inside the main building, visitors can read books from the jungle-themed shelves, make their own versions of paper books and host individual cultural events. The outdoor facilities scattered throughout what used to be the schoolyard allow camping, performances, lectures and other recreational activities.
In addition to cultural institutions, the province is also eyeing the old Hansan Elementary Yongho Branch School in Tongyeong to turn it into an animal shelter for street cats.
The school, located at the tip of the small Yongcho Island, opened in 1940 before finally closing down in 2012 due to dwindling number of students.
The building is scheduled to be reborn as a “Cat School” in the next year or two. Its old classrooms, with stationed veterinarians and other staff members, will shelter streets cats and make them available for adoption. It will also sell pet products and food to create a regional income.
The Gyeongsangnamdo Office of Education stated that it will continue working with local governments to utilize the remaining abandoned school sites as functioning public spaces.