The eighth Busan Multi Fireworks Festival

Picturesque fireworks set backdrop for lasting memories

The eighth Busan Fireworks Festival takes place at Gwangalli Beach and Busan Asiad Main Stadium from Oct. 26 to 27. This year, the theme is love. The goal is to make Gwangalli Beach in front of Gwangan Bridge, the main stage of the fireworks festival, a world-famous proposal spot.

October 27 - Fireworks concert
From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., there will be a fireworks concert at the Gwangalli Beach special stage. The police band’s drum group, a vocal ensemble, a Brazilian percussion performance and citizen cheering are scheduled, counting down the start of the fireworks show. The event is expected to be very exciting for all attendees and will hopefully create exciting memories that will last long into the future.

October 27- Busan Multi Fireworks Show

The Multi Fireworks Show, which is the highlight of the festival, takes place from 8 p.m. for 50 minutes. Roughly 1.5 billion won ($1.35 million) worth of fireworks, including 80,000 small and large pieces, will create a fancy spectacle under the theme of love. In terms of scale, it is nearly the same as the Harbor Bridge Fireworks Festival in Australia held every Dec. 31, the Fourth of July Fireworks Festival in United States celebrating Independence Day, Japan’s Omagari Fireworks Festival in August and the Canada Fireworks Contest.

Fireworks will shoot off from eight barges and also from Gwangan Bridge. This year, rainbow fireworks will be introduced for the first time in Korea. Colored half-moon-shaped rainbow fireworks will light up the center of Gwangalli Beach for one full minute. This type of firework was first presented in Dubai in 2010.

The world-class fireworks on display will include the classic one-kilometer Niagara, fireworks falling down like a waterfall from Gwangan Bridge, one of the highlights of the Busan Fireworks Festival. This year, the Niagara will be presented for one minute in two colors.

In between the fireworks show, there will be “proposal time” for one or two minutes. It is being introduced for the first time this year. During this time, sweet music with thousands of hearts, flowers and stars will add romance to the mood. The citizen of this year, students and neglected neighbors will press the button to start the fireworks show.

□Busan Fireworks Festival event schedule

Date                         Time                            Event                                      Venue

Oct. 26                  7-10 p.m.                 K-pop concert                         busan Asiad Main Stadium
Oct. 27                 3-6 p.m.                   Street parade                             Gwangalli Beach road
                             6-8 p.m.                   Fireworks concert                   Gwangalli Beach special stage
                             8-9 p.m.                 Busan Multi Fireworks Show     Gwangalli Beach

Best spots from which to admire the fireworks
The fancy fireworks festival is taking place again this year. So where is the best place to see the Busan Fireworks Festival?
1. Gwangalli Beach
The best place to see the fireworks is, of course, Gwangalli Beach. To secure a spot at the center of the beach, you need to bring lunch and come early. If you arrive two or three hours before the show, you might be able to find a spot at the corner of the beach, but if any later, it will be hard to find a place here. From Metro line no.2’s Gwangan Station, walk five minutes.

2. Millak Waterfront Park and Samik Apartment
The second recommended place is Millak Waterfront Park and the road next to Samik Apartment. Although it is not as good as the shore, you can see the fireworks up close. But you will be seeing the show from the side. From Metro line no.2’s Geumnyeonsan Station, take bus no. 108.

3. Mt. Geumnyeon
Mt. Geumnyeon is most popular following the Gwangalli shore. It is where you can see Gwangan Bridge and the beach at a glance. It is also preferred by photographers since they can catch a great angle. From Metro line no.2’s Geumnyeonsan Station, walk 20 to 30 minutes.

Warm clothes are a must when watching the fireworks festival
Participants should prepare warm clothes, snacks, and a camera or camcorder.
1. Warm clothes
While waiting for the festival to start and until the festival ends, you will need a thick, hooded shirt, comfortable pants and sneakers to endure the cold weather of late fall.

2. Simple snacks
The venue is cold, and it is hard to find something to eat there. Bring hot water or coffee in a thermos, and also bring along gimbap or pizza- something simple to eat when you get hungry.

3. Digital camera and camcorder
To take pictures of the moving fireworks in the dark night, use a digital camera or a camcorder with a tripod instead of a smartphone.

Tips ;How to get to the festival venue

1. By train (get off Busan Station)
*Bus: Take bus no. 40, 41, 42, 139, 1001, 1003; get off at the entrance of Gwangalli.
*Metro: Transfer to metro line no. 2 at Seomyeon Station → Get off at Geumnyeonsan or Gwangan stations.

2. By airplane (from Gimhae Int’l Airport)
*Limousine bus: Board toward Haeundae (15 minute interval) → Get off Namcheon-dong. (in front of Hwamok Mansion)
3. By intercity bus (from East Busan Terminal / Nopo-dong)

*Board metro and transfer to line no. 2 at Seomyeon Station → Get off at Geumnyeonsan or Gwangan stations.

*City bus : Take bus no. 49-1

4. By intercity bus (get off at Busan West Bus Terminal / Sasang District)
*Board metro → Get off at Geumnyeonsan Station (exit no. 3 or 5) or Gwangan Station. (exit no. 3 or 5)

*City bus : Take bus no. 62

5. City Bus
*Take bus no. 40, 41, 42, 139, 1001, 1003, 131, 131-1.

6. Metro
*Get off at Geumnyeonsan Station (exit no. 3 or 5) or Gwangan Station (exit no. 3 or 5) → Walk for 10 minutes.

7. By car
*Namhae Highway: West Busan Tollgate → Dongseo high-level road → Mt.Hwangnyeong Tunnel ramp → Daenam Underpass → Gwangalli Beach road → Gwangalli Beach

*Kyeongbu Highway: Guseo IC → Dosi Expressway → Suyeong Riverside road → Gwangan Bridge → Gwangalli Beach

The hills are aflame with autumnal tints of Seoknam tempe

The hills are aflame with autumnal tints. so, i went to seoknamsa in Mt. gajisan to the scarlet in maple leaves thre.  

 

The United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Busan Korea

Here at the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea, the only one of its kind in the world, rest heroic brave soldiers from a number of UN nations, who sacrificed their lives for world peace and freedom.

The Parliament of Korea, in order to honor the services and sacrifices made by the UN forces during the Korean War, volunteered this land for permanent use by the UN as a cemetery in August 1955. The General Assembly accepted the proposal and UN Resolution #977(X) to establish a United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea became effective in December of 1955.

Brief History of the UNMCK
* Jan. 18, 1951 Establishes a UN Command cemetery for fallen UN troops
* Nov. 7, 1955 Korean Parliament recommends to the UN to accept the land for its perpetual use as a  
    sacred UN memorial cemetery
* Dec. 15, 1955 UN General Assembly passes a resolution to perpetually manage a UN memorial
    cemetery in Korea
* Nov. 6, 1959 Korea and UN sign the "Agreement between the United Nations and the Republic of
   Korea for the Establishment and Maintenance of a United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea"
* Feb. 16, 1974 UNCURK transfers the management of the UNMCK to the Commission for the
     UNMCK consisting of 11 member nations.

Change of the UNMCK's Korean Name
On March 30, its original Korean name, 재한유엔기념묘지 (jae.hahn.UN.ki.nyum.myo.ji), was
changed to 재한유엔기념공원 (jae.hahn.UN.ki.nyum.gong.won) in order to bring the cemetery
closer to the Korean public.

 UN Support
After the war broke out in Korea on June 25, 1950, when North Korea suddenly invaded South Korea, the UN hurried to convene a meeting of the 2nd UN Security Council and decided on the 28th of June 1950 to dispatch UN troops to Korea. This remains, in the history of the UN, as the unique resolution where troops were dispatched in the name of the UN.

In all, 21 nations volunteered to assist under the UN flag to help Korea--16 nations provided combat troops, equipment and armaments, while 5 nations provided non-combat assistance by dispatching medical ships with staff and medicine.
16 Nations with Combat Aid : USA, UK, Turkey, Canada, Australia, France, Netherlands,
New Zealand, South Africa, Colombia, Greece, Thailand, Ethiopia, Philippines, Belgium
and Luxemburg
5 Nations with Medical Aid : Norway, Denmark, India, Italy and Sweden
During the Korean War (June 25, 1950 ~ July 27, 1953), there were 40,896 UN casualties from 17 nations including Norway.

Status of interred at the UNMCK
This is a holy site where the brave fallen of the 11 nations are interred. Approximately 11,000 were interred at the UNMCK between 1951~1954. There are currently 2,300 at the UNMCK, including Korean soldiers who fell as members of the UN troops. Most were repatriated home; Belgium, Colombia, Ethiopia, Greece, Luxemburg, Philippines and Thailand have taken back all of their expatriates. The USA, who had the highest number of casualties in the war, took all of their fallen home soon afterwards. However, 36 members of the UNC dispatched from the USA and stationed in Korea after the war, who died and wished to be interred at the UNMCK, also reside here at the UNMCK.  

The national flags of twenty-one nations who participated in the war on behalf of UN and Korea fly everyday, as well as the interred from 11 nations.

93, UNPyeonghwa-ro, Nam-gu, Busan Metropolitan City

                                            TEL : 82-51-625-0625, 82-51-625-0614

The Russian Novel - Film Information and Open Talk !

    The Russian Novel

       COUNTRY : Korea, South
     CAST:  KIM Insoo 김인수,KANG Shinhyu 강신효,KYEONG Seonghwan 경성환,KIM Jeongseok  김정석,
                        LEE Jaehye 이재혜,LEE Kyongmee 이경미,LEE Yoomee 이유미,LEE Bitna 이빛나,
                       CHEOUNG Hoonhee 정훈희
      MUSIC : KIM Shinill 김신일
      Running Time :  140min

The second installment of Shin Yeonsik’s middle-aged romance trilogy unfolds like a tragic Russian novel, in a visual monochrome with understated audio. A writer, who had lapsed into unconsciousness at the age of 27, miraculously regains consciousness after a 27-year coma and wakes to a world where he is a literary sensation, a prestige writer representing the period. The book, , has earned him legendary status. It just so happens he did not write the book. In a reflective scene near the end of the film a character explains the basics of the Russian novel: long, complicated and so many characters. The same can be said ofthe film. It has a relatively long running time of 2 hours and 20 minutes and a complicated narrative structure, unfolding in order. There are so many characters in the film that it’s impossible to remember them all. Although long, it is never boring; complicated, certainly, but never difficult; and packed characters, yes, but never to the point of distracting.

DIRECTOR : Younshick SHIN

Shin Yeonsik studied Spanish at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies before breaking into the film industry as a director’s assistant in 1997. His filmography includes (2009) and (2005).



        ** Open Talk !- Haeundae FIFF Villige

Whole Area of Namsan and Three Royal Tombs in Bae-ri, Gyeongju

      Whole Area of  Namsan , Gyeongju

Mt. Namsan compries Mt. Geumo (486m high) , located to the south of Serabeol, the ancient capital of the Silla Kingdom, and Mt. Gowi ( 494 m high ) , It streches 4km from the south to the north, and 8km in width from the east to the west, including over 40 mountain valleys, Thus , Namsab is often referred to as " an open air museum".and is the place where the breath of the Silla Kingdom is felt.

This mountain has numerous historic relics along with pre-historilcal relics: the Najeong Well, Jegendary brithplace of Bak Hyeokgeose ( 1st king of Silla ) : Namsan foress: King's tombs: and Poseokjeong . In addition, the mountain has countless Buddist remains. A resent research reveals that it has 122 temple sites. 57 stone Buddhas, 64 stone pagoas, and 19 stone lamps. these Buddhist relics born out of a marriage between Buddhist faith and the natural environment epitomize Bulgukto, the ideal Buddhist land of the Silla people
Location ;  Bae -dong Gyeongju-si Gyeongsangbuk-do Korea

Three Royal Tombs in Bae-ri
There are the tombs of three Silla Kings : King Adalla (154~184), the 8th King of the Silla Kingdom: King Sindeok (912~917, Bak Gyeong-hui) , the 53rd King of the Silla Kingdaom; and King Gyeongmyeong(917~924, Bak seung-yeong) the 54th King of the Silla kingdom.

when bakje Attacked Silla and captured Silla people, King Adalla himself went to the battle and set Bakje prisoners of war free at the request of peace. The mound of his tomb is 58m in circumference, 18m in diameter, and 5.4m in height.

king Sindeok became a king when his father-in -law, King Hyogong, died without an heir. After he became a king, he constantly fought against the attacks from Gyeonhwon and Gungye. The mound of his tomb is 61m in circumference ,18m in diameter, and 5.8m in height, In 1953 and 1963, the tomb was excavated.

King Gyeongmyeong was the son of King Sindeok. He defended the attacked of Gyeonghwon from Later Bakje at Daeyaseong fortress. His attempt at establishing diplomatic ties with Later Tang in China ended in failure. The mound is 50m in circumference , 16m in diameter, anf 4.5m in height.

Singer PSY at crest of the Korean Wave "Gangnam Style" Who ?

It would be a mistake to think that idol groups are the most popular performers at college festivals. The three most coveted musicians are not these K-pop stars. At No. 3 is DJ DOC, who takes the stage with a seemingly endless set list packed with hip-hop hits. The second favorite is Kim Jang-hoon, who is considered the living legend of live concerts. He says he is offered a shocking amount of alcohol for free after performing at college festivals.


But the indisputable and unchallenged champion is Psy. He asks for a reasonable fee for his appearance when performing at schools, and he instantly turns college campuses into wild parties. And Psy is always the last one to perform. The idol groups usually present two or three songs, but Psy typically performs seven or eight. If he is in the mood, he says “Let’s go all the way,” and goes on for hours. He may be the most cost-effective guest at college festivals.

Psy is a controversial figure, having been caught smoking marijuana and driving drunk. He was the center of controversy during his military service and ended up serving twice. But he is also a celebrity the Ministry of National Defense is grateful for. Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said that Psy agrees to entertain soldiers without hesitation, even after serving in the military twice. He would often refuse the fee and would throw a party at his own expense, ordering fried chicken for the soldiers.

Personally, I like his 2010 single “Right Now” better. It was a flop, as the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family categorized the song as “not appropriate for 18 and under” because of the lyrics. However, the music video was freely distributed on YouTube with Japanese subtitles. Something is not right — perhaps the government ministry’s perspective on culture is skewed. Psy, who was considered non-mainstream in Korea, is sweeping the world, and Kim Ki-duk, who makes low-budget independent films with no government assistance, has won the Golden Lion for Best Film at the prestigious Venice International Film Festival. There is a wide gap between the government’s perspective and the global perspective.

Psy’s “Gangnam Style” is a mega-hit worldwide. The addictive rhythm and easy-to-follow invisible horse dance have swept the world. He is probably not the most handsome musician, but fans around the world are obsessed with the comic music video of the likable rapper. Koreans are impressed by the appearances of singer Hyuna and gagman Yoo Jae-seok, but foreigners go crazy over No Hong-chul dancing in the elevator and 7-year-old Hwang Woo-min in the playground.

psy’s sensational popularity falls right in with the trends of the time. “Gangnam Style” is spreading for free over the Internet and is reproduced through countless covers and parodies. When the paparazzi followed him in the United States, Psy said, “I may be the only musician with no portrait rights. You can take all the photos you want!”

It would not do him justice to say that Psy was just lucky and his success accidental. As he explained during a television interview, his concerts usually go on for about three hours, and after performing for two hours he “gets dehydrated” and has to “get oxygen.” “When my legs get cramps, trainers apply shots of acupuncture. Concerts physically exhaust me,” he said during the interview. His wit and charismatic stage presence are results of his career. When he taught the horse dance to Britney Spears, she asked if she needed to take her high heels off. He responded, “The mindset of this dance is ‘dress classy, dance cheesy.’ ” When asked by the paparazzi about the source of his energy, he simply said, “Alcohol.”




“Gangnam Style” has more than 250 million hits on YouTube. It is not a far-fetched dream for a Korean song to top the Billboard Charts or receive a Grammy. In “Right Now,” Psy repeatedly shouts, “I am going to run now. I am going crazy now.” Yes, let him run, go crazy and go all the way.

Barbara - Germany Film Information

17th Busan International Film Festival / Barbara / World Cinema  Film Information

* COUNTRY: Germany

*Running Time: 105min

* Color / Format : 35mm / Color COUNTRY Germany

is without doubt a masterpiece of Christian Petzold. His works share a distinctive style that the characters communicate their emotions through facial expressions and eye movement rather than dialogues. Barbara also demonstrates the psychology of Barbara who is planning to escape East Germany to West Germany through her face instead of lines exchanged between characters or events. Barbara set a plan to escape from the suffocating society of East Germany to West Germany. The first half of the film is filled with depiction of misery and sense of isolation that she feels living in East Germany. While preparing her escape, she meets Stella, a girl from a youth detention center who was forced to be hospitalized, and falls in love with a colleague doctor Andre. These people make Barbara’s decision changed. What if happiness is not in the land over the border but is what you create with people around you? Petzold does not plainly make his point. Instead, he wants the audience to look at Barbara’s situation in the scenes captured in long shot and hopefully empathize with her.

DIRECTOR : Christian PETZOLD

Born in Hilden in 1960, Petzold moved to Berlin in 1981, first studying German, literature and drama at the FU in Berlin, followed by studies at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin from 1988-94, during which time he was assistant director to Harun Farocki and Hartmut Bitomsky. Directing his first drama in 1995, his film (2000) received a Gold German Film Award. His films (2004) and (2006) have screened in the Berlinale’s Competition programme.

World Cinema " Beasts of the Southern Wild" United States Film

17th  Busan  International Film Festival World Cinema section information .
The World Cinema section has allowed everyone to examine the general trend of non-Asian films of the year. This year, the section is filled with 74 films from 45 countries. A number of new works by the world-renowned filmmakers have been selected from Europe, where the nations with traditionally strong film industry are located. Among them, there are films presented or awarded at the world's three major film festivals, such as Michael Haneke's (France), Matteo Garrone's (Italy), Thomas Vinterberg's , the Taviani brothers' (Italy) and Christian Petzold's (Germany). There also are new works from the filmmakers like Jan Troell, Marco Bellocchio, Ken Loach, Volker Schlondorff, Olivier Assayas and Cristian Mungiu. France still ranks first in terms of the number of newly produced films, and Italian directors have been standing strong since last year. Vitality of German cinema is proven by the increase in the number of German films selected, as well as . European world premieres include Silvio Soldini's (Italy) and (Spain), characterized by its unique and mystical atmosphere.

The international premieres include (Denmark), (Netherlands), (Finland), a comedy called (France) and a revisionist western (Poland). There also are works by new European filmmakers: (UK) and (Ireland). Meanwhile, a large number of high-quality independent films are produced each year in North America. Particular attention is required for two films having their world premieres in Busan, (Canada) and (Canada). Ben Affleck's (US), a Hollywood film produced this year, has been selected from the USA to provide a unique and enjoyable experience. In 2012, the most noticeable trend of world cinema is the remarkable growth achieved by the film industries in Central and South Americas. Such a growth is demonstrated by the Best Director Award won by Carlos Reygadas and the meteoric rise of young directors including Michel Franco and Andres Burgos Vallejo. In particular, this year's significant growth of Chilean and Colombian films will be witnessed with (Chile), (Chile) ? a unique western which will have its international premiere, or (Colombia). As for African and Oceanian films, (Morocco), (Kenya), (South Africa) and (Australia) will prove their directors' skillfulness in Busan. The World Cinema films describe diverse aspects of human life, sometimes from a serious and critical perspective and other times within the framework of a particular genre. These films, which will travel long distance to visit Busan, reflect the lives of our contemporary global neighbors and therefore be all the more interesting.




World Cinema " Beasts of the Southern Wild" United States Film


 * DIRECTOR:  Benh ZEITLIN

*  COUNTRY : United States

*   Date of Production : 2012

 * Running Time 92min

 * Color / Format DCP / Color








                                                      Film Information

A girl named, Hushpuppy, lives with her father in a distant land in the southernmost edge of the world. Animals die in her community, turning the “southern land” into a ruin. Even her father becomes ill and Hushpuppy is faced with a crisis.

The sequence of Aurochs, prehistoric animals that are ancestors of cow, travelling in an iceberg to come to Hushpuppy is stunning to see. This may be just a girl’s fantasy. Yet the scene where fantasy overlapping with reality, symbolizing the girl’s encounter with the Mother Nature, is photographed beautifully. The scene of the girl communing with Aurochs, which is shot with computer graphics, clearly demonstrates that the “southern land” represents today’s world that lost nature and human heart. Hushpuppy meets her mother, communes with Aurochs, embraces her father –a miracle-like happy ending to the girl’s journey to self-discovery. 

                                                     
DIRECTOR : Benh ZEITLIN

Benh Zeitlin began his career as a filmmaker at the tender age of 6 when he and a friend made a Batman movie. He continued making films as a child before attending Wesleyan University, where he majored in film. After graduation, he worked with elementary students in New York creating short films. His short films are (2005), (2006), and (2008). is his first feature.

Garden of Learning / Busan Biennale 2012

Busan Biennale Is a comprehensive art festival that integrated three different festivals that had been in the
city : Busan Youth biennale, Busan sea festival, and Busan outdoor sculpture Symposium.
With a long history of serving as on art stronghold in Asia, Busan is a perfect place to host an art festival
for the region and beyond. The biennial art event was intrnded to presend to easy interpretation of the hard -to-understood contemporarny art and moke it more accessible to general public.

The fetival serves as an arena where locals con mingle with people from other countries and communicate with each other. Busan Biennale will be entrenched as reprsentative culture event Koreand, ultimately, achieve a worldwide recogniti on.

What is it about? Garden of Learning / Busan Biennale 2012 stems from a slow, largely improvised exhibition process involving around 80 people from Busan and wider Korea, a comparatively small number of artists and the Artistic Director. Collaborating closely in a body called Learning Council (LC), these people shared their doubts about the relevance of the Biennale-type exhibition, explored possibilities for reaching a wider community and learned about various artistic approaches to the realities that keep challenging us.

The main exhibition, also titled “Garden of Learning”, is being held at Busan Museum of Art. It is meant to look like a modest museum collection, and features around 41 participating artists. The decision to make a Biennale-type exhibition as a global museum collection was taken by the LC as away of reinforcing the dignity of public institutions in the face of both market forces and populist demands.

Garden of Learning is embedded in an educational program that is jointly conceived by the team. Mirroring the self-education processes that characterize LC meetings, this program tries to grasp and account for Busan’s many historical and contemporary layers. Questioning everyday matters, including topics such as cooking and schooling, the political is understood here as the normative way things are done.


The special exhibition is jointly organized by nine emerging curators under the title “Outside of Garden”. They seek to extend Garden of Learning beyond its museum premises by including spaces that resonate in Busan’s historical memory, including Busanjin Station, Busan Culture Center and Me World.


Biennale Urban Square is composed of smaller festivities and events where curators, artists, Learning Council members and general audiences meet in a causal way, enjoying the many niceties of Busan.
In addition, a Gallery Festival will be jointly celebrated by 19 art galleries in Busan.
 

         Space – 2012 Rhythomos
Jun’s free-hanging sculpture was specially conceived for the museum’s entrance hall. This artwork is as monumental as it is light and airy. With it, the artist set out to achieve two things: first, to introduce a ready-made material with a strong, sculptural texture into the exhibition, and second, to use a material that the people of Busan would not only easily recognize, but also embrace as belonging to the port city and its history of labor.

Jun chose to work with used fishing nets in all their variety, including differences in strength, density, and color. The sculpture emphatically shares its space with visitors. It can even be gently pulled, thus offering a sensual experience. This is especially true for young viewers, who are more and more inclined to perceive their environment as merely virtual.

In a huge, dark gallery, white antlers – a whole flock of them – emanate from a blackish liquid covering the entire floor. The artist calls his work a “monument”, but what it is meant to commemorate? The antlers are made of porcelain; they are both fragile and precious. Their image, mirrored in the blackish liquid, only adds to their immaterial, almost ghost-like appearance. This looks more like a landscape of doom, even a graveyard than a monument, and yet this piece holds the secret to an extraordinary beauty.

The apparitional look of the antlers forms an afterimage, rendered in three dimensions, of a species that has been extinct since the late 1930s: Schomburgk’s Deer. A swamp deer that once roamed the central plains of Thailand (the artist’s home country), its antler was characterized by a flat, bushy look.
Sakarin Krue-On was once greeted by such an animal at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. He somehow felt drawn to the grace the animal betrayed, even as a padded thing, and a connection between past and present was made (this is, after all, what museums are for). The artist then learned that, much like today’s desperate masses of people, the deer had to flee the often flooded plains of Thailand. The animal was forced to move uphill in search of food, leaving it vulnerably exposed to predators. Schomburgk’s Deer came to realize much too late that the creatures following him were not fellow deer, but humans – hunters wearing antlers for better range and rifle accuracy.
The flooded plains, the people, the deer – all of these are present and connected in the Monument. And yet, given the history of the animal’s extinction, do we have to attribute the porcelain antler to the deer, or could it be the human – the hunter in disguise? Indeed, what is being commemorated here might not be Schomburgk’s Deer, but a human intelligence that facilitates not only the destruction of the world’s riches, but also and ultimately itself.

Global trade and industry are a ubiquitous presence in our daily lives (just look at the origins of consumer goods on supermarket shelves). But they are also highly abstract entities, particularly in terms of scale and with an eye to their miraculous logistics. Ships are a key facilitator of global trade. Their cargo fuels Korea’s export economy, for example, and delivers the raw materials necessary to sustain the country’s ongoing modernization.

Aranberri’s installation conjures a museological image of Korea’s modern condition. While it is impossible to grasp the monumental scale – and therefore actual impact – of the shipbuilding operation (statistical information and documentary projects have their clear limits, for better or worse), Perpetual Continent feeds the imagination with a display of hollow moulds. These forms are abstractions of abstractions. They are supplied by a shipbuilding company in Ulsan that builds ship models, or prototypes and replicas of actual ships for use in contract negotiations between the shipbuilding company and its client. But these ship models are no mere supplement. Their excessive shine and minute detailing puts them close to a fetish.

The hollow moulds, on the other hand, are difficult to idealize. The object that matters is gone, or so it seems; what they exhibit is mainly negative space. Still, this negative space points to more than just nothing or absence. Negative space is a key trope of early 20th century avant-garde art (in Malevich, for example). On the one hand, this trope encapsulates a gesture of radical nullification or tabula rasa: the negation of all traditions and established norms. On the other, it evokes a utopian promise: out of the negation of the old world, a new and better world will come.

Modernity’s utopian promise is becoming harder and harder to believe in. State socialist experiments failed horribly, and rampant capitalism causes ecological disaster. Could this be why Aranberri’s piece looks like a necropolis? Ibon Aranberri Perpetual Continent

   The Gallery Festival will be held during the Busan Biennale 2012 and is intended to amplify the mood of the Biennale and vitalize the art market.
Period: Sep. 22 – Nov. 22, 2012 at Busan Museum of Art Venue: Galleries throughout Busan (19 galleries in 6 districts) Artwork: 409 works of art from 64 artists