Born Again-Pyeongtaek MADE

The white monolith of the Shinjang Shopping Mall (previously World Plaza) nearby Songhan Station in Pyeongtaek was a nuisance to the local community, having lost its core function due to a fire several years ago. Instead of exerting positive influence on the nearby business districts and residents, it became a sore point in the community as an unsolvable problem. Many passers-by wished to demolish the building and replace it with another one, given its impact on the surrounding environment and the local economy. We tend to discard and abandon things we deem useless. Appreciation for what we have, or memories of the past, is easily forgotten in anticipation of novelty, and we dismiss what remains as shame for the past.

Shinjang Shopping Mall carries so many stories from the early 1990s of Pyeongtaek’s history. There are less palatable aspects, such as the city’s reputation as the military camp town nearby the U.S. base; America within Korea; or ‘bastard’ culture, which hybridizes Korean and American cultures. However, the building is also a re ection of our own past, rather than something to be ashamed of for those of us who live in the 21st century. We hope that the works that have been produced over such traces of the past would become a departure point for positive acknowledgement in contrast to the negative views that had shaped the local community. The two artists who participated in the project, we hope, would trigger small resonances in people’s hearts through stories about the site and its atmosphere. We believe that if “Lovers’ Embrace” and “The Character of a Broad Smile” could initiate such positive ripples in people’s minds, the Mall could achieve a fresh new beginning.

Alex Senna from Brazil and Korea’sSixcoin(JeongJoo Young)presented works that proposes to extend our ‘love’ for others by adding ‘communication’ and ‘harmony’ to a building that serves as the symbol of Pyeongtaek’s negative image. Pyeongtaek’s<born again> shows that art can be understood without being conveyed through complicated articulations, as it naturally presents itself in our lives instead of remaining isolated as a formal act that requires limited space and proper manners for appreciation.

Starting with Gyeonggi MoMA’s 2014 international exhibition, this project became the origin point for the artist’s expansion beyond the museum space, into the streets where people actually walk, inhabit, and pass through. The participating artists’ projects were distinctively different from exiting works, which mainly focuses on the presentation of the results; instead, the artists shared the process of designing and producing locally attuned projects. The public art works in Pyeongtaek’sSongtan Special Tourist District, open to anyone who wishes to enjoy liberal and intriguing works, will become the foundation of Gyeonggi MoMA’s new voyage by assisting the public’s encounter with art through snapshots of life where we call come together and lead on our lives.