우리의 서울 이야기

Several trips this week--one of the first (in a long series) of "branding" Seoul--우리의 서울 이야기--which bills itself as a "talk concert concerned with establishing Seoul's city brand".   The first talk seemed rather uncontroversial: is Seoul a "mountain" city or a "river" city?

서울 마을 미디어

The folks at 서울 마을미디어 conceiving of various projects as linked nodes in a network--similar to the metro, in a way, but I wonder about the edges linking these vertices.  What are they?

  

고진감래(苦盡甘來)

고진감래(苦盡甘來, Bitter, Sweet, Seoul) (2014) is a montage film made up of the 150 or so winning entries in a film contest on representing Seoul ("Seoul, Our Movie").  I remember the contest from summer of 2013, an, given that various KPOP stars plugged it, it looked (to me) like a tourism brochure rather than a serious project.  But the resulting film, directed by 박찬욱 (the famed director of "Old Boy") and his son, 박찬경, this seems altogether more dark and critical--while still giving lip service to the tourism industry.

The darker bits: contrasting 

북정마을

I'm still concerned over the fate of this neighborhood abutting Seoul's old, city walls (한양 도성). That said, Twitter does seem to reflect my concerns.  A recent search turned up mostly references to the irritating, SBS reality show, "Roommate".  Here's the network picture--not pretty.

동대문역사문화공원

Just a couple of photos from today.

First, the mammoth, Dongdaemun Design Plaza (동대문 디자인플라자) or DDP:

Second, the archaeological site preserved (sort of) at the center of the Plaza:

The sign: "Let's protect our valuable cultural heritage"

은평역사한옥박물관

A wonderful visit to an interesting museum in northern Seoul in the foothills of Bukhansan.  What brought me there was, of course, 재개발--And there's an interesting narrative on that at the museum.  Great tour--especially of 은평's history:

Co-Living in Seoul

I caught the "Co-Living Scenarios" (협력적 주거 공동체) exhibit at the Seoul Museum of Art (SEMA).  All about the re-invention of 골목공동체 for the post-재개발 age.

Also--perhaps because this was a competition between architects, there was a impressive, little library appended to the exhibit.  I copied down some titles for later:

1. 박인석.  아파트 한국 사회.
2. 정민우.  자기만의 방: 고시원으로 보는 청년 세대와 주거의 사회학.
3. 오마이 뉴스 특별취래팀.  마을의 귀환: 대안적 삶을 꿈꾸는 도시공동체 현장에게다.
4. 나는 튀는 도시보다 참한 도시가 좋다: 정석 교수의 도시설계 이야기.
5. 세 도시 이야기.
6. 우리, 마을 만들기.  "12인의 전문가가 국내사례를 총해 살펴본 마을 믄들기의 현황과 전망!  우리의 마을 만들기 어떻게 할까?"