A DIFFERENT KIND OF MEMORIAL

At the top of Mt Namsan, the geomantic southern mountain of the city of Seoul, is Seoul tower, and at the base of this tower are a number of overpriced refreshment stands, a place for the putting on of cultural events, and a collection of lookout points that take in the view of the surrounding landscape.

Lining these lookout areas is a metal grill fence, and attached to the fence are thousands of small padlocks marked with a promise. Seoulites have appropriated these places in much the same way they do anywhere they feel content or joyful - making their mark, noting their place - leaving a note to the world that there were there, and at that time they were happy.

SOUTHWARDS / SEOUL TOWER, MT. NAMSAN

Witnessing the Korean methods of mark making across the city, particularly at Namsan, and at the lantern festival, made me wonder if there was something to learn from them as examples of memorial making. Each note or padlock was a memorial to self in a point in time, that point being the present. We constantly strive to mark the world with our passing, perhaps these are the form of a contemporary memorial.

NORTHWARDS / SEOUL TOWER, MT. NAMSAN

Immediacy is a defining quality of the modern world. We mark it now, with how we feel now. We blog, we post, we text, we email, we call now. I’m not sure that we even need an immediate response. All that matters is our voice has been put out there, in the world, outside ourselves.

Can this have relevance for the typology of cemetery? Perhaps not for the deceased, but perhaps towards accessibility by the living.

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SUGER AND SPICE AND ALL THINGS NICE

CONCENTRIC CIRCLES
photo by TD

At some point in the recent past I visited Ssangil Market in Insadong. Everywhere I go I see types and forms that feel original and innovative and astonishing, but on some level I'm sure I've seen them before. Seoul feels so familiar, but there are tiny twists that bewilder from the periphery of my perception.

SHINY BY DAY
photo by TD

This is certainly not the first multi-storey retail building I have seen, and I'm sure somewhere I've registered in my mind a slow ascent alongside shops or stalls, on a bridge perhaps, or hillside town. Why then here, where it merges together into a wonderful helix of commercialism does it feel so fresh and joyful?

SHINY BY NIGHT
photo by TD

As you slowly rise and look back at the shiny little things inside, then outside, then back in, then out but further up, to a grassy verge there is no bitter taste of cheapness or struggle. This may be the high commercial value of the site shining through, but lets ignore the cynicism for a moment and enjoy the sights.

MOUNTAIN PATH
photo by TD

If a place makes Seoulites happy, they like to let you know, and will write a message to tell you. 'I have been here,' they say, 'and I'm having a great time!' Every reasonable space is covered with graffiti, but not the sneering, smirking kind you often see in other countries, just sugar and spice and all things nice.

I WAS HERE, HERE I WAS, WAS I HERE? YES I WAS!
photo by TD

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3 DAYS WITH AN ARCHITECT

One morning I left with the commuters to go to work, and took the subway across the river (though in the opposite direction to most). Koreans appear to commute like most everyone else, locked in their own little world, packed in tight - though portable televisions seem to be the object of attention. Every once in a while something or someone would soften these boundaries. Of all the preachers, pop-up tai-chi practisers and ankle sock salesmen, certainly the most heartwarming was the ripple effect of a baby's appearance. Men, women and children would come over all ga-ga.

Morning Commute - Photo by TD

There is something different to Seoul around Yangjae, perhaps it is because it is south of the Han, but perhaps it is that, having reached my stop on the bus, you are suddenly presented with a view to a mountain. It is as if Seoul stops. From here on the land returns to mountains.

Cheonggyeangsan Mountain - Photo by TD

I know that this is not actually true, but still I feel that this presence of mountain within the city centre, of nature as where civilisation is not, jutting into civilisation, must have some relevance to the psyche to the cities inhabitants. At the same time, one often finds the APT buildings jutting through a layer of trees in exactly the same way. Perhaps there is some strange juxtaposition of undeniable vertical elements within the city that Seoulites may be aware of at a subconscious level. This might lead me to hope that a vertical insertion of memorial may be more bearable but I will have to wait and see.

The purpose of this commute was to work for Jongwhan Ahn, at his practice in Yangjae, AN Architect. He had been invited to enter a competition to design an art gallery dedicated to the artist Whanki Kim in the village, on the island, where he grew up.

Eupdong-ri, Anjwa-myeon, Sinan County, South Korea - Site - Via Google Maps

Kim's artwork is dominated by the colours and shapes he was surrounded with growing up by the sea, and grew up obsessed with the ocean. This is somewhat apparent by looking at any of his paintings.

블루 시리즈 - Whanki Kim

So, by siting a gallery in his home village, it is hoped that visitors might gain some insight or context into the world this artist inhabited. Whether successful or not, the integration of the particular light, tone and landscape inherent to this island setting was essential to the competition design.

Whanki Art Gallery - Competition - AN Architect - visual by TD

After three days, the model, and visuals were finished. More than that, as we worked together, and talked together, and ate and drank together, I gained some insight or context into the world Jonghwan Ahn inhabited, and he mine.

Having studied and worked in London, not to mention actually being Korean, he is able to express Korea to me far better than my reading a book, taking a photograph or walking the city. Jonghwan Ahn has offered to assist in my development of 6 Feet Up, giving advice, explanation and assistance where he can. In so doing, he has become the first official Friend of 6 Feet Up.

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DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT KOREAN

GROW VALLEY by eyezmaze

Once upon a time, when I was most likely supposed to be doing something else, writing a blog perhaps, I stumbled upon Grow Valley by Eyezmaze. At first glance Grow Valley appears to be simply an endearing and beautifully crafted puzzle game. It eventually reveals its solution as the player aligns a series of events in accordance with the logic of the creator of  the game. As this logic is unknown, the effort are mostly trial and error (or cheated, in my case) - but success is met with a frenzy of delightful activity.

JEAN TINGUELY : HOMAGE TO NEW YORK by Stephen Cornford at vimeo

In many ways this reminds me of works by Jean Tinguely. The initial impression is not the deeply poetic meaning of a complicated self  destructing machine or the resonant analogue of its dedication but - how it is all connected. That spring makes that light... makes the wheel... make the shoe... and so on. It is only once we are saturated with the effort towards how, do we begin to think why.

Completed! GROW VALLEY by eyezmaze

This 'why' may be that poetic unravelling, but perhaps instead of unravelling the created, we begin to unravel the creator - their mindset. I like to think of Grow Maze as an artwork that slowly reaveals itself as the viewer aligns their own understanding to that of the logic of the creator. There is a logic there, but not mine and probably not yours. Through walking in their shoes we can understand how, why, when and where he is walking. Perhaps with a little more effort we can understand where they have come from, maybe even where they would go in the future. Most of the time this will be trial and error, but sometimes we will be able to cheat and someone will give us the answer, (or is that pushing the metaphor too hard?)

Eyezmaze is japanese and in presenting us with this game, has revealed a moment of joy in his own Raissan thread. It stretches back through the world he inhabits now, the world he shares with his contemporaries, through to the world that forms his cultural heritage.

 I am not a korean, I cannot think like a korean - but I can attempt to learn how one thinks by keeping my mind open to the worlds they create in their own image.

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THE MOMENT BEFORE THE THREAD UNRAVELS

Thus begins the flood of references to Italo Calvino, in this case 'Invisible Cities'. I won't start with excerpts from the inevitable Cities & the Dead, but instead one of the Hidden Cities - Raissa, as it provides a frame of reference for a frame of mind that is rather poetic, and keeps this project from being too gloomy.

"...in Raissa, city of sadness, there runs an invisible thread that binds one living being to another for a moment, then unravels, then is stretched again between moving points as it draws new and rapid patterns so that every second the unhappy city contains a happy city unaware of its own existence." pp149 Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino (VINTAGE CLASSICS) 

In grieving for one passed away we dwell invariably on loss - loss of life, of new experiences, of fading memories. If however those in mourning come together and share their memories, it is as if the dead gains new life. Each additional perspective or experience of that life adds shape and weight to the continued existence of the one passed away. Where once there was loss there is now continuation, and that must be a joyful thing.

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