Notes from underground

Main character:

주인공

직업을 잃고 좌절한 통역사 - 달러의 가치가 위안(중국화폐)에 밀린 이후, 영어가 영국, 미국을 제외하곤 거의 사용되지 않게 되었으며 한국어가 세계에서 3번째로 많이 쓰이는 언어가 된 시대에 살고 있다.(중국어가 1번째, 포르투갈어가 2번째) 그녀는 더 이상 대출금도 갚을 수 없게 되었고, 정부가 필요 이상으로 아파트를 짓기 시작한 이래로 부동산 가격도 폭락하였다. 부모님은 일찍이 돌아가셨고 직업이 직업인지라 친구도 많지 않았기에, 그녀의 고통을 함께해줄 사람이 없었다. 그녀는 사회로부터 버림받았다고 생각했고, 그래서 삶의 마지막 시도로 자신이 사회의 한 구성원으로서 존재했다는 것을 보여주고자 한다.

Location:

장소

새로 재개발 지역으로 선정된 Neonewcity, 예전엔 금창동으로 통했다. 이 지역의 사회 기반 시설 발달 계획이 예산부족, 잘못된 수행, 지역주민의 항의에 의해 실패한 후, 정부는 서울의 지원과, 인천이 시간이 지난 뒤 제 역할을 하면서 완전히 새로운 계획을 만들어 냈다. Neonewcity는 수직적 마을로 디자인 되었고 원예, 공용생활공간, 전원, 레져, 일, 그리고 개인과 상업적인 공간, 이 모든 것이 결합되어 거대한 높은 빌딩에 위치한다. 가장 높은 건물은 186층짜리 이며, 크리스탈 궁전(Nikolai Chernyshevsky를 본따서)이라 불리고, Neonewcity사람들에게 사치스러운 낮 시간을 보낼 수 있는(소비할 수 있는) 최고의 장소로 유명하다.

Synopsis:

개요:

Title: Notes from underground (Dostojevski)

제목: 지하에서의 기록 (Dostojevski)

Neonewcity에 있는 빌딩 위에서 뛰어 내린 후, 통역사는 바닥에 곤두박질치지 않고 오래된 덤불 사이에 약간 숨겨져 있던 구멍으로 빠졌다. 그리고 그 추락은 인공적인 지하 공간에 있는 나무와 덤불, 그리고 어떤 정원의 옥상에서 멈추었다.

그곳은 연로한 사람들이 정부에 의해 지상에 가지고 있던 집에서 지하로 쫓겨난 후 살고 있는 곳이었다. 이 나이든 사람들은 재개발 계획에 대한 시위의 초기단계로 그들 주변 환경의 그 어떤 장소도 점거하지 않음으로써 시위를 시작하였다. 그들은 그들이 확실히 상태의존적인, 박스를 집으로 하는 노숙자가 될 것이며, 미래의 Neonewcity에는 그러한 장소조차 없다는 것을 지적하길 원했다. 정부는 일말의 가능성조차 주지 않았고, 노인들이 자포자기가 되어가면서 지위는 점점 더 거칠어졌다. 시위 중, 어떤 여성이 경찰에 의해 사망한 뒤 노인들은 그들이 함께하고, 그들의 커뮤니티를 이전할 수 있는 새로운 장소를 찾기로 결심했다. 그들은 금창동 사회 기반 시설 계획을 위한 터널 중 사용되지 않은 것을 발견하고 그들의 보금자리로 사용했다. 그리고 정부는 이것을 그들의 문제점을 해결할 방법으로 반갑게 보았다. 그들 말로 비이성적이고, 통제불가능하며 사회에 비협조적인 부분인 노인들을 제거했고 정부는 Neonewcity공사를 시작할 수 있게 되었다. 노인들은 주변은 전통적인 한국식 마을로 꾸몄고, 물은 지하에서 얻으며, 공기는 통역가가 떨어진 구멍을 통해서 얻었고, 전기는 지하에서 가까운 지하주차장의 전기를 끌어다 썼다. 자외선 전구로 채소를 기르고, 날씨는 아주 적당하고 큰 변화가 없이 매년 수확을 하기에 좋았다. 

아래는 통역가가 몇 가지 특별하다고 생각하는 것을 쓴 것들이다.

• 노인들은 지상사람들과 비교한 많은 이야기를 이야기한다.
• 그들은 좌측통행을 다시 사용하기 시작했다.
• 그들은 죽은 사람을 묘지에 묻는다. 그러나 묘지아래를 파고 시체를 나무기둥으로 받친다.
• 지하에는 고양이가 많은데, 이건 그녀로 하여금 Neonewcity에서 고양이를 거의 볼 수 없었다는 것을 떠오르게 한다.
• 매미가 지하 천장부터 계속해서 울리는데, 이게 10배는 더 소리가 크다. 그래서 모든 노인들이 거의 귀머거리이다.
• 지상에는 미국이 끼친 영향의 흔적은 거의 사라졌고, 심지어 부대찌개도 더 이상 찾아볼 수 없었다. 지하에서 노인들은 맥아더장군 상을 흙으로 (서투르게)만들었고, 통역사는 할머니의 이야기에서만 듣던 부대찌개를 처음으로 즐겼다.
• 통역사는 노인들이 아주 핼쑥하기에(빛이 없어서) 아주 예쁘다고 생각했다.
• 금창동 대신에, 노인들은 그들의 이전 삶의 구역을 ‘배다리’라 불렀다.

몇 일 동안 미로 같은(중앙시장 같은) 터널을 걷고, 숨겨진 사회를 배우고, 그녀의 절망을 극복한 뒤, 그녀는 이 터널을 만든 사람이 사용하던 버려진 엘레베이터를 발견한다. 처음에 그녀는 올라가길 망설였으나, 7일뒤 그녀는 태양, 에어컨, 깨끗한 화장실, 침대, 그리고 24시간 편의점 등이 그리워서 지상으로 돌아가기로 결심한다.

Style:

양식

우리(2012년 스페이스빔 레지던시의 6명의 예술가들)은 어느 날 배다리에서 나이트워크를 하면서 고층건물들 옆에 있는 더 이상 사용하지 않는 터널에서 쓰레기가 담긴 여행가방을 발견했다. 이 작은 여행가방에는 노트와 이미지가 무더기로 있었는데, 이것은 (이름없는)통역가의 것 이었다. 지하도시에서의 경험이 그녀로 하여금 책을 쓰게 한 것이 확실했다. 우리는 경찰에게 그녀에게 무슨 일이 있었고 왜 그녀의 노트들이 거리에 있었는지 물었더니, 지하도시에서 돌아온 다음부터 그녀는 그녀가 할 수 있는 최대한 많은 크리스탈 궁전의 지붕의 조경시간을 샀다고 한다. 그리고 7시간뒤, 햇빛에 목마른, 아주 화가 난 사람들이 줄을 이루었고, 이들은 분노에 눈이 멀어 그녀(통역가)를 지붕 밖으로 던져버렸다고 한다. 우리는 그녀의 노트(기록)을 출간하고 이 통역사의 이야기를 해주는 투어(나이트워크)를 하기로 결심했다.

Visual references:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llacDdn5yIE

http://www.planetware.com/i/map/TR/cappadocia-underground-map.jpg

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Main character:

A depressed English/Korean translator who is without a job due to the fact that Korean is now the 3rd language in the world (preceded by Chinese and Portuguese) and English is hardly spoken outside of the U.K and the U.S.A (which is no dominant player in the world economy anymore since the Dollar was surpassed by the Chinese Yuan). The translator cannot pay her mortgages anymore and on top of that real estate prices went down in Korea ever since the government had built more apartments than it has people. Her parents have both passed away and her previously busy life didn't make her much friends, so there is no way for her to share her pain with others. She feels abandoned by society and wants to end her life in a last attempt of confirming that she exists as an individual. 

Location:

Neonewcity is the newly redeveloped area previously know as Keum Chang Dong. After the planned infrastructural developments for that area had failed because of lack of budget, erroneous execution and protests from some locals, the government developed an entirely new plan with financial backup from Seoul, from which Incheon has become a part over the course of time. Neonewcity is designed as a vertical village where gardening, social space, the outdoors, leisure, business and private and commercial space are all combined into huge high rise buildings. The highest building has 186 floors and is called 'Crystal Palace' (after Nikolai Chernyshevsky), and is also the most popular place for spending expensive sun-hours among the Neonewcitiers.

Synopsis:

Title: Notes from underground (Dostojevski)

After jumping from a high building in Neonewcity the translator doesn't hit solid ground but instead falls trough an old hole somewhat hidden by some old bushes. Her fall is eventually broken by a tree, some bushes and a rooftop garden inside a huge artificial underground space. It turns out that the elderly have taken up residence underground after being forced by the government to leave their own houses on the surface.

The elderly began protesting the government in the early stages of the redevelopment plans for their neighborhood by occupying the non-places (Heidegger) in their surroundings. They wanted to point out that they would most definitely become state-depended homeless people having their cardbox homes on the non-places of future Neonewcity. The government would not give way even a little bit and the protests became more violent when the elderly were driven to despair. After the police had killed a woman during one of the protests the elderly decided to find a new place to live for all of them together, i.e to relocate their community. They found the unused tunnels which were dug out for the infrastructural plans for Keum Chang Dong, and made it their home. The government saw this as a welcome solution to their problem. Now they could start building Neonewcity and they got rid of the elderly, an -according to them- irrational, uncontrollable and uncooperative part of society.

The elderly designed and build the place as a traditional Korean village, getting water from an underground well, oxygen from several 'chimneys' like the one the translator fell trough and electricity they steal from some of the basements of nearby underground parking lots. They use UV-lamps to grow vegetables. The climate is very moderate and constant, enabling harvest year-round. A few things the translator made images of and/or wrote special notes on:

• The elderly tell a lot of stories compared to the upperground people
• They reverted to using the left on the roads
• They bury the dead in a graveyard, but digging up underneath the graveyard, shoring the bodies with wooden poles
• Underground there are a lot of cats, which remind her of the fact that in Neonewcity she hardly ever sees a cat
• The cicadas sounds bounces from the ceiling of the cave, making the sound 10 times louder. All the elderly are a bit deaf because of this
• Upperground almost all traces of U.S.A influence have been removed, even the Budae Jigae is not available anymore. Underground the elderly made a macArthur sculpture from clay (very clumsily) and the translator for the first time enjoys a Budae Jigae which she only knew from stories told by her grandparents
• The translator finds the elderly very beautiful because they are so pale (since they have no sunlight)
• Instead of Keum Chang Dong, the elderly refer to their previous living quarters as 'Baedari'

After walking through the maze-like tunnels (much like the covered part of Jung Ang market) for days, learning about this hidden society and overcoming her own depression, the translator finally finds a way out: an abandoned elevator used by the men who initially constructed the tunnels. Initially she hesitates to go back up, but after 7 days she misses the sun, her air conditioner, a clean bathroom, her bed and the 24h store so she decides to return to the surface. 

Style:

We (6 artists in residency at Space Beam, 2012) have found a little suitcase with the trash at the high rises next to the unused tunnels in the Baedari area during one of our Nightwalks. In the little suitcase we found a big pile of notes and images, which turned out to be notes taken by the (nameless) translator. Apparently her experience in the underground city inspired her to start writing a book about it. 

We found out what happened to her and why her notes were on the street from the local police: upon returning from the underground city the translator had bought as many sun-hours as she could at the roof of Crystal Palace. After 7 hours there was a very long line of very angry people all eager for sunlight. The angry mob apparently turned on the translator and in a moment of blinding rage threw her from the roof. 

We decided to publish her notes and to give a tour (Nightwalk) which tells the story of the translator. 

Visual references:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llacDdn5yIE

http://www.planetware.com/i/map/TR/cappadocia-underground-map.jpg

Castaway J

People always have a dream. The city of dream is painted in their head and expanding steadily. To start thinking of the accident 100years ago, one day middle of west sea of Incheon is uplifted. People started to hold uplifted land sacred and build their houses and live. That area called Songdari was really radiant but that glory was short-lived.

Songdari had been declining with people’s indifferences because of severance with the inland area. After then, a guy called “J” from Netherland who monopolizes fishing industry and commercial supremacy settled in Songdari and started to extend his power. But because of the poor distribution structure, it couldn’t work out well. Despite of that, thanks to its geographical advantage, Baedari area had changed into lifeful area. 냉면, salt, coffee, tomato, pepper became the most popular thing in Baedari.

As Baedari became active, more people were moving into Baedari, the uplifted area was getting poor even devastated. Even tsunami which was never happened for 200years stroke that area, there were no people, no buildings so it became to ‘Dark city’. After for 50years, Songdari became a legend naturally. 

Meanwhile, rich merchant “J” obtained government’s approval to develop Songdari with his wealth. He built high-rises and rivers and planted wood. But there was lack of water, city was always dry. On the other hand, people’s living was getting better and broadcast, waterworks, electricity, information access had strengthened, and community area from high-rises was obliged to be in mid-rises. CCTV has established more, local people’s obsession with land and prices of building has been increasing. As people depend on high-technology system more and more, lots of social issues catch up with that. There were a lot of problems such as suicide, murder, divorce, missing, harassment, fraud, violence.

Eventually, “J” had a time for looking back his life, and he remembered the time when he took the first step in Baedari. So he decided to get along with the happenings that happen naturally, set a site. He realized something new while he sows seeds of flower on the side of road silently, and protests high-way plan. And he said, his dream is the first head of Baedari. Election of Baedari, now only just over 6months away, he enjoys happy life in the hut which he made in a corner of town farm. 

사람들은 늘 꿈을 꾼다. 그 꿈의 도시는 사람들의 머릿속에 그려져 꾸준히 확대된다. 지난 100년 전의 사건으로 시작해 보면 어느 날 인천의 서쪽 바다 한 가운데가 융기하였다. 사람들은 융기한 대지를 신성시하게 되었고 그 위에 집을 지어 살기 시작하였다. Songdari로 명한 이 곳은 당대 가장 찬란했으나 그 영광은 그리 오래 가지 않았다. 

Songdari는 내륙과 단절된 삶의 조건으로 하여금 사람들의 무관심속에 차츰차츰 쇠퇴하기 시작하였는데 이후 어업 및 상권을 거머쥔 제국 네덜란드 J씨가 내륙 한 켠에 자리를 잡고 그 세력을 펼치기 시작하였다. 하지만 허약한 국내 유통구조로 말미암아 그리 재미를 보지는 못했다. 그렇지만 배를 댈 수 있다는 지리적 이점을 살려 Baedari 지역은 금새 생기 있는 장소로 변모해 갔다. 냉면, 소금, 커피, 토마토, 청양고추 등으로 유명한 Baedari는 그 유명세를 탔다.   

내륙 Baedari의 활기를 이유로 인구 이동이 가속화됨에 따라 융기지역은 쇠락하다 못해 황폐해졌다. 여기에 지난 200여년 동안 잠잠했던 지진해일이 덮쳐 말 그대로 쑥대밭이 되고 말았던 것인데 사람들의 생존은 찾아 볼 수 없었고 건물은 모두 부서져 앙상함 가득한 어둠의 도시로 변했다. 이후 50여년 동안 Songdari는 자연에 내맡겨 전설이 되었다. 

한편, 대상 J씨는 막대한 부를 내세워 낙후된 지역의 개발 사업권을 시정부로부터 승인 받아 Songdari지역의 개발을 진행하게 되었다. 독점이나 다름 없었기에 그가 하고픈 대로 새 이름 Cheongdari PLAN을 진행하게 된다. 고층의 집을 짓고 강을 만들고 나무를 심었다. 그러나 물이 풍족하지 않았기에 도시는 늘 건조했다. 반면에 사람들의 삶은 윤택해졌는데 방송, 수도, 교통, 전기, 정보의 접근권이 강화되었고 고층 아파트의 커뮤니티 공간으로 중간층이 의무적으로 수용되었다. cctv가 증설되고 토지와 건물시세에 대한 사람들의 집착이 날로 증가되었으며 첨단전자시스템의 의존으로 인해 예상 외로 각종 사회문제가 발기하였다. 이에 J씨의 고민은 깊어졌다. 끊임 없이 자살 및 살인, 이혼, 실종, 추행, 사기, 폭행, 집단집회 등이 만연해져 갔음은 이를 잘 말해 준다. 

결국 J씨는 자신의 행동을 깊이 돌이켜 보는 시간을 가졌고 고민 끝에 인천에 첫 발을 내디뎠던 Baedari지역을 소중히 뒤돌아보게 되었다. 결국 급한 판단을 자제, 자연스레 엮어지는 사건들을 중심으로 어울려 지내기로 결심하고 Baedari에 터를 마련했다. 전에 없던 꽃씨를 거리 한 켠에 남몰래 뿌리고 시정부의 게릴라식 도로정비에 대한 저항행동도 하면서 새로운 깨우침을 얻게 되었다. 그의 고국 네덜란드에 대한 갈망은 아랑곳하지 않고 누구보다도 애착을 보였는데 살짝 물으니 그의 꿈은 Baedari 초대 이장이란다. 6개월 앞으로 다가온 이장 선거를 앞둔 그는 최근 마을밭 한 켠에 오두막을 짓고 하루가 다르게 몰려드는 사람들로 말미암아 행복을 얻고 있다.

Passer-troughs

Ghosttown has many different types of doors for many different types of passer-troughs. One can only pass through the doors which are meant for one to to pass through. 

Once an unknowing tourist from Europe (an old place where they should know about these things) passed through a door not meant for European tourists. The door didn't lead the tourist into the dark abandoned house, but to the large basement of a high rise apartment building instead. All the doors in this basement lead to the basement itself and as of yet, the tourist is still in that basement looking for the door which will lead his way out.  

3 ghost stories in Changyong elementary school

There are three ghost stories in Changyoung elementary school.

1. The school has wooden floors. The way to clean them is to using candles. The first group of students rubs the floor with candle wax. And then the second group of students scours the waxed floor with pebbles. It is easy to fond pebbles near the train station. At last, the third group of students clean the rest of wax with clothes. The wooden floor is worn down so the edge of the wood is not clean. It is common that the students get the splinter of wood in their fingers while they clean the floor. According to a rummer, a student was dragged by two other students on the floor. At that moment, he got a big splinter in his knee. So he had to cut his leg and no one could see him again. After that accident, students can hear a floorboard creak at 9 o'clock. They think it is a ghost. Children as we were, I and my friends want to hunt the ghost. we sneak in the school. There are some doghouse in the building. Like Korean traditional houses, the houses made of wood have to be built on the ground. First, putting the foundation stone and then laying a wood floor. To make ventilation, there are some holes on the lower part of building. Students can easily break the hole. But now the building's structure might have changed a lot, so I am not sure we can still find the holes. 

2. There was a toilet over there. Now it is gone by the renovation of the building. Students are afraid of going to that toilet because they can hear some sound. Especially, girls cannot go there. There was a rummer that there are someone dumped babies there. Think about the Middle ages. People abandoned babies a lot at that time. Do you know the Yulmock Park near the guest house?  The park used to a crematorium. It was crematorium for Japanese and Chinese, and people dumped their stillborn babies there. Even I have seen them at that time. Therefore it can be true that someone disposed of babies in the toilet. At that time we did not have medical facilities. The mothers cut the umbilical cord with scissors or teeth so they often were infected with tetanus. This is the background of the toilet ghost story.

3. There was a tree next to that building. According to legend, the person who cut the tree accidentally cut the tail of dragon also. So of all days, there was the rain on the day of our picnic. I preyed for not having the rain before the day of our picnic. 

the high rise & hope best villa (draft)

high rise apartment/ gated community with cctvs/ the safety zone/ the others

so what's wrong with it?
for me, it's more about what it stands for, perhaps not too much about how ugly it looks like.
- being accommodated with controlled society, taking part of capitalism gambling etc.


on the other hand,  it's also what some people really longing for - the convenience, freedom of being anonymous, social status, something which one can eventually own it only after a 10-20years of mortgage.

hope best villa

규태와 아더는 같은 동네에 살고있어요.

말이 없는 조용한 친구에요

그런데 할아버지들이 아더만 너무 좋아해요

아더는 항상 꽃을 받아요, 기도도 받아요. 사진도 찍어가요

할아버지들이 아더만 이뻐하네요

규태도 이쁨받고 싶어요

규태는 애기들이 이뻐해요

쓰다듬어주면서 이뻐해주네요


그래도 규태와 아더는 친구에요

The map about redevelopment plan in Incheon area. 

What is old and new, and how many local habitants want their town to be redeveloped?

8.03.2012 Joris, Sangsup, Gwangsig, Narea, Saem and I participated in the meeting of local people in Yulgokdong.

 One of old ladies talked about "city and rural."

"The place where I had lived was rural and then 10 years ago, I moved to Incheon. This is not a rural area comparing with the place where I came from but it is a country comparing with Seoul."

The one of reasons to pursue redevelopment project is to make the town into new town which looks like a city.

The distinction of city and rural is a relative concept. 

In Eastern culture, people regard the agriculture as the main source to get the power and money. So the town should be very close to the farms. So there is no clear distinction between city and country side.

However, in Western culture, people used to divide urban settlement and rural settlement.

Therefore the city VS rural is not the original concept in Eastern.  

The modernization-the emergence of industry as well as division of labor-brought the individuality.

People consider that the separation is an important value such as privacy or quality alone time.

Of course, the industrialization had started in Western first, and then has spread to other countries.

The process of industrialization is not only about changing the economic system but also altering the way of life (the place where people live).

There was a new concept of living-apartment.

People from rural areas are moving to cities  as a result of urbanization and industrialization. The demand for housing is along with the increase of migration.