Sinan-gun, Island Residents Take Center Stage at 'Sinan Maninbo Exhibition' Exhibition

County Governor Park Wooryang: "Transforming Abandoned Spaces in Island Villages into Community Culture and Art Spaces"

Scenery of Dunjang Village Art Museum, Jaeun-myeon, Sinan-gun / ? Asia Economy

[Sinan＝Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Seo Young-seo] Sinan-gun, Jeollanam-do, announced on the 18th that the opening ceremony of the ‘Sinan Maninbo Exhibition’ (subtitle: Each覺Jado Island Life Awakening by Oneself, Island) was recently held at the Dunjang Village Art Museum in Jaeun-myeon.

The event was attended by a minimal number of people including Park Woo-ryang, Sinan County Governor, Kim Hyuk-seong, Chairman of Sinan County Council, the head of Sinan Cultural Center, Choi Bitna, director of the Casco Art Institute in the Netherlands, and participants of Maninbo.

The ‘Sinan Maninbo Exhibition’ consists of various genres of cultural and artistic works based on the life stories of islanders introduced in the special feature corner ‘Maninbo’ of the quarterly magazine ‘Sinan News’ published by Sinan-gun.

From the public open call held for about a month from the 14th of last month to the 6th of this month, 30 works by general participants who were finally selected and works by special invited artists Oh Chi-geun (picture books), Jeong So-young (installation art), and Choi Seong-wook (photography) were harmoniously combined to create a rich exhibition.

In particular, Choi Bitna, director of Casco Art Institute, who was in charge of spatial production and exhibition planning, actively reflected the verification and opinions of seaweed farmers in Jaeun-myeon and recreated the stake-type seaweed farming facilities, which represent Sinan-gun’s fishing culture, as the main stage. The works submitted in the contest are naturally arranged on a structure that imitates the seaweed farming poles and the hanging seaweed racks.

Director Choi Bitna said, “The stake-type seaweed farming structure inside the art museum serves to catch and support the paintings,” and added, “I am grateful to the local fishermen, participating artists, and Sinan-gun officials who helped make the exhibition successful.”

Governor Park Woo-ryang stated, “The Dunjang Village Art Museum in Jaeun is realizing the goal of the art museum by discovering and spreading the cultural values of the village, rather than engaging in grand discourses about the truth of the world,” and added, “We plan to continue projects that transform neglected or abandoned spaces in island villages into village cultural and artistic spaces.”

Meanwhile, the Dunjang Village Art Museum was originally a village hall built by villagers pooling bricks and cement allocated to each household when the Saemaul Undong (New Village Movement) began in 1971. It opened in April 2020 through space regeneration under the ‘Small Art Museum’ support project by the Korea Arts & Culture Education Service.

Additionally, continuous cultural and artistic planned exhibitions are being held through Sinan-gun’s ‘1 Island 1 Museum’ art project.

The Sinan ‘Maninbo Exhibition,’ which contains the life stories, wisdom, and voices of Sinan island residents, will continue until September 5.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.