The Samrye Culture & Arts Village, Pohang Steel Life and the Gwangmyeong Upcycle Art Center. These are all local art foundations that have been highlighted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Nov. 15.
In order to encourage cultural development, and to spread models of cultural development, the ministry has been supporting selected local art foundations over the past five years.
During colonial times, the Samrye Culture & Arts Village in Wanju-gun County, Jeollabuk-do Province, was a granary used to store harvested grain. Now, it has been transformed into a local arts center, with a media art museum, a book art center and a museum- and a culture-themed café. The venue offers many chances for local residents to have a cultural experience.
One successful example of this is the Samrye Culture & Arts Village, the grand prize winner in 2016 of the ministry’s Local Cultural Brand awards.
During colonial times, the Samrye Culture & Arts Village was a granary used to store grain harvested from the Mangyeong Plains in Wanju-gun County, Jeollabuk-do Province.
This modern cultural asset, however, has now been transformed into a place for culture and the arts, preserving its value as an old building that has existed for many decades in the city, while still preserving the painful history of the past.
The Samrye Culture & Arts Village has a media art museum, a culture-themed café, a book art center, a book craft shop, and a book museum. The venue hosts a variety of programs and exhibitions, educational and cultural events, and arts-related events to provide extended chances for local residents to appreciate culture and the arts.
Another award winner in the ministry’s Local Cultural Brand awards is Pohang Steel Life. This park, filled with outdoor art, is considered a model for the industrial city of Pohang, connecting artistic values to the historic value of steel, the source of growth for the city of Pohang.
Pohang Steel Life is considered an exemplary project that emphasizes the uniqueness of Pohang, a city of steel, by connecting the value of steel to artistic values.
Pohang Steel Life is a project that creates a “path of art,” dubbed the Steel Art Way, in order to promote the historic value of steel in the city of Pohang, and to boost the overall value of the city. Steel provided an opportunity for both the city of Pohang and for the conglomerate POCSO to achieve growth in the modern era.
Under the project, more than 100 steel sculptures are on display along the Steel Art Way, connecting the Pohang Canal, Yeongildae Beach and the Pohang Museum of Steel Art, showing the one-of-a-kind, differentiated cultural content found in Pohang.
The Art Way Cruise Tour is another popular tourist spot in Pohang, along with the Steel Art Way, where sightseers can enjoy a cruise along the Pohang Canal and appreciate steel sculptures. Other interesting events include the Pohang Steel Art Festival, an annual event themed on steel art, which has run since 2012. Steel art from past festivals can be seen all across the city.
Students listen to an explanation about a steel work of installation art on display in Pohang.
The Gwangmyeong Upcycle Art Center in Gwangmyeong-si City, Gyeonggi-do Province, is also one of the three winners of the ministry’s Local Cultural Brand awards. It used to be a garbage incineration plant, but has since been renovated into a zone for culture and the arts, themed on “upcycling.”
Upcycling is the process of transforming recycled goods, unwanted products or waste into new materials with increased value in a way to add creative designs or to boost efficiency.
The Gwangmyeong Upcycle Art Center became one of Korea’s first-ever upcycling-themed centers. The center hosts various upcycling-related exhibitions, performances, educational classes and other events and activities, to offer opportunities for people to enjoy cultural and artistic experiences.
Visitors to the center can also experience how an upcycling experience can recreate new values through the arts and design, not just ending at one single consumption of a product.
The Gwangmyeong Upcycle Art Center used to be a garbage incineration plant. The venue now offers exhibitions, performances and educational programs related to upcycling and the arts.
The Gwangmyeong Upcycle Art Center offers opportunities for people to enjoy cultural experiences on the theme of upcycling, and to create new creations by adding artistic values to used resources.
By Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
arete@korea.kr
