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© 2015 Jin-kang Park
Mt. Chunjang Project
2003
6/12
Photo by ban ejung

installation, mixed media (two-channel video, text, cut-out air map, styrofoam-covered plaster), 6.2'x7.5'(sculpture)

For about 40 years the site of my school used to be the Korean Agency for National Security Planning (ANSP). It is now an open area and an art institute. Within the compound, however, there are still remnants of the old agency: old surveillance cameras in the forest, a big antenna on the top of the main building and the remains of a wall that surrounded the entire compound. Shopkeepers and local people still relate stories about the kidnappings, torture and murders that took place in the compound. Because plans are in place to eventually raze all the buildings and turn the compound into a park, I realized that these things will disappear without much attention being paid to them. So, my project involved researching, recording, and memorializing the history of this place.

Through the text and the cut-out air map, I present the place and its surroundings, once completely hidden behind the huge wall andshow how it has changed through the years. Originally, in 1724, it was the King and Queen's Graveyardo, then in 1924, when the Japanese invaded, they built a golf course on the site. In 1962, the military government took over the site for the ANSP and in 1995 it became the Korean National University of Arts.

The video work shows my subjective experience of running inside and outside the wall, through the sights and sounds of my footsteps, breaths, shadows, and of the surroundings.

The sculpture, representing the boundaries of the old Korean security agency, is an extension of the video work and presents my experience of having traveled along the inside and outside of the wall.