Naju City to Host 'Yeongsangang International Installation Art Festival' Starting from the 20th

Published 17 Oct.2023 17:24(KST)

Naju City in Jeollanam-do announced on the 17th that it will hold the ‘2023 Naju Festival, Yeongsan River is Alive’ integrated festival in conjunction with the inaugural ‘Yeongsan River International Installation Art Festival’ from the 20th of this month to the 30th of next month.

The installation art festival, under the theme ‘Flow, Ten Elasticities,’ features 15 domestic and international artists active in various fields such as sculpture, installation, and video media.

Works by 11 Korean artists at the Yeongsangang International Installation Art Festival. (From top left to right) Ongojisin (Kang Yong-myeon), Meeting (Kim Kyung-min), Parrot and People (Kim Kyung-min), Three Gods (Kim Byung-ho), Accumulated Petals (Nam Ji-hyung), Drift_Irregular (Min Sung-hong), Manhwabangchang (Park Il-jung), Moving and Moving (Eom A-rong), Fate (Lee Sang-yong), Girl Reading a Book (Lee Yi-nam), Bring the Space-Yeongsangang (Jo Eun-pil).
[Photo by Naju City]

Installation artworks will be exhibited at 10 key locations including the Old Naju Station, Old Hwanam Industry, Nabillera Culture Center, Geumhakheon at Naju Moksa’s Residence, Seoseongmun Gate, Naju Hyanggyo Confucian School, Geumseonggwan, Naju Rice Mill, Yeongsanpo Lighthouse, and Yeongsan Ferry.

Ahead of the festival opening, the city introduced 11 installation works by participating artists Kang Yong-myeon, Kim Kyung-min, Kim Gye-hyun, Kim Byung-ho, Nam Ji-hyung, Min Seong-hong, Park Il-jeong, Eom A-rong, Lee Sang-yong, Lee I-nam, and Jo Eun-pil, along with their locations and photos (from top left in order).

▲ ‘On-go-ji-shin’ (Kang Yong-myeon) - Geumseonggwan, Naju

The exhibited work ‘On-go-ji-shin’ depicts a round rice bowl and overflowing lumps of rice. Rice has always been precious to impoverished people throughout history. Geumseonggwan, the exhibition site, was the largest guesthouse nationwide during the Joseon Dynasty where envoys and officials visiting Naju stayed. The rice bowl placed in the courtyard of Geumseonggwan symbolizes the city’s heartfelt hospitality toward honored guests visiting Naju during the festival.

▲ ‘Meeting’, ‘I Love You’ (Kim Kyung-min) - Geumseonggwan, Naju Hyanggyo

The work ‘Meeting’ installed at Geumseonggwan invites viewers to discover meaning as people come and go, filling the empty space. When visitors sit at both ends of the bench and exchange glances, the encounter becomes more intimate.

Another piece, ‘I Love You,’ is installed at Naju Hyanggyo, a national educational institution during the Joseon Dynasty. The Confucian principle ‘Sushin Jega Chiguk Pyeongcheonha’ (修身齊家治國平天下), emphasizing self-cultivation, family harmony, governance, and world peace, is reinterpreted in a modern context as the importance of a healthy and harmonious family. The artwork warmly and cheerfully portrays the image of a family exchanging love.

▲ ‘Parrot Cage’, ‘People’ (Kim Gye-hyun) - Seoseongmun Gate, Naju

Seoseongmun Gate in Naju was the site of fierce battles between the Donghak Peasant Army and government forces during the Donghak Peasant Movement in 1894. The assembled art piece ‘Parrot Cage’ installed here expresses the repeated ‘sacrifices’ that have occurred throughout history, like a parrot repeating the same words. ‘People’ evokes memories of those who became scapegoats of their era, whose sacrifices are not forgotten despite the passage of time.

▲ ‘Three Gods’ (Kim Byung-ho) - Old Naju Station Plaza

The ‘Three Gods’ work abstracts the image of gods, metaphorically representing the absolute values and beliefs each god pursues. The ‘Daenggi Hair Incident’ occurred at the old Naju Station during the Japanese colonial period, which triggered the Gwangju Student Anti-Japanese Movement. The artwork displayed in the Naju Station plaza symbolizes the Naju people’s earnest hope for independence, personified as gods.

▲ ‘Accumulated Petals’ (Nam Ji-hyung) - Old Oriental Development Company Document Storage (currently Yeongsan Ferry)

The artist reinterprets falling flower petals into simple and organic forms. In ‘Accumulated Petals,’ the process of petals falling is expressed as a dancing human figure. It symbolizes the transition from the dark Japanese colonial era to the future transformation of this place into a vibrant complex cultural space.

▲ ‘Drift_Irregular’ (Min Seong-hong) - Old Hwanam Industry

The artist created new forms by utilizing discarded landscape paintings. The images from the paintings are printed on fabric and revived as floating installation works. Most of the printed landscape images depict utopias. The work conveys the hope for new vitality in the old canned food factory building, which has lost its vibrancy.

▲ ‘Manhwabangchang’ (Park Il-jeong) - Nabillera Culture Center, Naju

The exhibition space, originally a sericulture factory, is now used as a cultural center for art creation and education. The artist’s steel structure is adorned with various flowers and trees harmoniously intertwined, radiating life energy. It metaphorically represents the blossoming of this former industrial facility into a cultural and artistic space.

▲ ‘Moving and Moving’ (Eom A-rong) - Naju Moksa’s Residence

The exhibition space, Naju Moksa’s Residence, was called ‘Geumhakheon,’ meaning ‘a house imbued with the integrity of a scholar who wishes to live nobly like a crane while listening to the sound of the geomungo (a traditional Korean zither).’ The artwork installed in the courtyard of Geumhakheon resembles a public signboard. It simultaneously evokes the idealized nature admired by old scholars and contemporary environmental issues.

▲ ‘Fate’ (Lee Sang-yong) - Naju Rice Mill

The artist gives value to discarded objects once used by someone and transforms them into new images. The chance encounter with old objects and their artistic rebirth is called ‘Fate.’ This approach parallels the transformation of Naju Rice Mill, which holds painful history from the Japanese colonial period, into a cultural and artistic space creating new stories and history.

▲ ‘Girl Reading a Book’ (Lee I-nam) - Old Hwanam Industry

This is a video media work. An elementary school girl shares her dream story with the audience. The background of the video gradually changes according to the story. The beautiful utopia turns into a war-torn landscape and finally into a peaceful scene with falling snow and the image of utopia. During the Japanese colonial period, Hwanam Industry produced numerous canned beef products supplied to the Japanese military. The girl’s dream story in this abandoned factory reminds viewers of the preciousness of peace and life amid war.

▲ ‘Bring the Space - Yeongsan River’ (Jo Eun-pil) - Yeongsanpo Lighthouse

In front of the artwork flows the gentle Yeongsan River and the Hwangpo sailboat dock, while behind stands the Yeongsanpo Lighthouse installed in 1915. This place witnessed the glorious past of Yeongsanpo. The lighthouse saw the times when agricultural and marine products gathered along the Yeongsan River waterway overflowed and the commercial district flourished. The blue feathers in the artwork express hope that embraces the glorious past and will take flight lightly as wings again.