Ring Ring Belt

Participants
Sungseok Ahn, Daigoang Chen, Cheolki Hong, Sukjoon Jang, Julien Coignet, Jungyeob Jung, Jieun Kim, Namhoon Kim, Seunggu Kim, Taeheon Kim, Hyewon Kwon, Leehaiminsun, mixrice, Moojin Brothers, Part-time Suite, Rice Brewing Sisters Club, upsetpress, Cultural Space Island Bed, open space BLOCK’s, Yeoju Duji, C&G Artpartment, Drawing Architecture Studio, OCAC

The 2018 Public Arts Project: Ring Ring Belt, a touring project around Gyeonggi do, aims to reflect on various discussions on social phenomena and artistic practice that engage with metropolitan urban culture. As part of the yearly program organized by Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation, this year’s Public Arts project has consisted of four sessions of seminars, research, and fieldwork, all of which took place around the Gyeonggi region. These sessions gave rise to the exhibition Ring Ring Belt in Donuimun Open Creative Village, in which 23 artists and artist teams from home and abroad explore contemporary spatial topography of Seoul and Gyeonggi metropolitan areas. 

Throughout the history of city formation in South Korea, the metropolitan spaces have expanded into regions of Seoul and Gyeonggi, while reflecting the changes in urban life, industries, and populations. How can we situate the “spatial axis” of this city formation – one that encompasses the adjacent urban areas surrounding the capital—in the history of urban development? In response to this question, we consider the circular traffic network around Seoul as a metaphor of such an axis by calling it the “Ring Belt” (Hwansang Belt). A Korean homograph for a “ring” and an “illusion,” Hwansang refers to both a circular formation that surrounds the metropolis and the illusion/delusion of the urban culture. The Ring Belt, therefore, is the geopolitical belt that refers to the ring roads (Seoul Ring Expressway and Capital Region 2nd Ring Expressway) passing through the Gyeonggi metropolitan area. It is also an imaginative inquiry into the reorganization of space in and out of the metaphoric belt. 

The 2018 Public Arts Project: Ring Ring Belt seeks to depart from the urban discourse that have centered in Seoul and to initiate discussions on the cultural ecosystem of peripheral cities via four travelling seminars (Seongnam, Yeoju, Bucheon, and Paju). It subsequently terminates with an exhibition that disperses the discursive outcomes from the center (Seoul) to the periphery. We hope that this exhibition serves as a venue that associates the spatial topography of the megapolis—which has taken shape throughout the past 50 years—with diverse perspectives in urban research, humanities, architecture, design, and arts. We also hope that this exhibition serves as an opportunity to place our contemplation on urban life and the arts ecosystem in the realm of praxis.
 
The Ring Ring Belt takes place in 12 buildings of Donuimun Open Creative Village and is divided into three sub-themes: “Gyeonggi Urban Topography,” “Communities Within/Beyond the Belt,” and “Asian Arts Collectives.” The 23 artists and artist teams, hailing from both home and abroad, unravel their seemingly impossible imaginations that move across artistic activities in and out of the megacity, the real and the imaginary of the metropolitan "ring/illusion," and geopolitical boundaries. It is ultimately an open space that we envision, one that recapitulates the issues of urban reorganization, the relevant social phenomena, and the historical trajectory which consequently connects the scattered coordinates of time and space. 

Programs 

December 7, 5-7pm 
Forum: Urban Transformation and Art Practice in Asia 
by C&G Artpartment, Drawing Architecture Studio, OCAC

December 21, 5-7pm
Lecture: Cities of Micro-logistics
by Dongjin Seo (Professor, Kaywon University of Art and Design)

December 29, 5-7pm
Talk: Shape of Gyeonggi
by Jidon Jung (Writer), Somi Sim (Artistic Director)

Curated by Somi Sim in collaboration with Moonseok YI
Hosted by Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation, Urban Space Improvement Bureau
Organized by Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation, Donuimun Open Creative Village
Supported by Arts Council Korea, Gyeonggi Province, Seoul Metropolitan Government

Press inquiries
Moonseok Yi, moonofnoel@gmail.com