Gangwon Cultural Foundation to Hold "Soyang-ro Patterned House" Exhibition Documenting Vanished Soyang-ro Alley Patterns

Selected for Two Consecutive Years of the 2025 Gangwon Signature Work Development Support
Choi Deokhwa's Exhibition Opens at Gaenari Art Museum in Chuncheon on the 16th

The Gangwon Cultural Foundation (CEO Shin Hyunsang) announced on December 11 that artist Choi Deokhwa's solo exhibition, "Soyang-ro Patterned House," which was selected for the second year of the "2025 Gangwon Signature Work Development Support" program, will be held at Gaenari Art Museum in Chuncheon from December 16 to 28.

Poster of 'Soyang-ro Pattern House'. Provided by Gangwon Cultural Foundation

This exhibition presents works that reinterpret the memories of vanished places into the visual language of "patterns," based on various traces such as window frames, household items, and gate motifs collected from the alleys and houses of the demolished Soyang-ro Giwajipgol in Chuncheon.

Soyang-ro Giwajipgol was once an old affluent neighborhood and a clan village in Chuncheon, but it was completely demolished in 2021 due to a residential reconstruction and maintenance project. A large-scale apartment complex is currently being developed on the site.

Artist Choi Deokhwa developed a deep attachment to the Soyang-ro alley after participating in a public art project in 2016, and has since continued to preserve records of her creative activities based on drawings, photographs, and collected materials. Through the 2024 Gangwon Signature Work Development Support program, she began to expand her pattern work in earnest, preparing for this exhibition based on those records.

The exhibition will feature pattern works, paintings, and motion graphic videos created based on elements discovered in hanji window patterns, rooftop railing motifs, and gate decorations. In particular, two large-scale paintings, each over 200-ho in size, are drawing attention for their contrasting portrayal of "hope" and "sorrow," which are the artist's ambivalent emotions toward the past.

Shin Hyunsang, CEO of Gangwon Cultural Foundation, stated, "'Soyang-ro Patterned House' is not merely a recollection of the past, but a meaningful example of re-recording the intangible value of vanished spaces through art and expanding the regionally based creative ecosystem."

This exhibition is open to the public free of charge, and visitors can also view an art book that compiles the records and pattern works the artist has collected over many years.

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