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| Guests walk through the DDP thematic exhibition at the 2019 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, Sept. 5, during a pre-opening tour. Yonhap |
By Lee Suh-yoon
Can a refugee camp be designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site? Can co-ops and community land trusts provide sustainable models for affordable housing?
These are just some of the questions explored at this year's architecture and urbanism biennale in Seoul, set to run until Nov. 10.
The main venues are the same as the first biennale in 2017 ― Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), Donuimun Museum Village and Sewoon Electronics Plaza.
A new addition is Seoul Hall of Urbanism & Architecture, located just across the street from City Hall. It is the country's first exhibition hall dedicated solely to exploring the sociopolitical dimensions of the urban landscape and architecture. The hall will feature multimedia projections of everyday images from Pyongyang while drawing parallels with Seoul.
This year's theme ― the collective city ― is a continuation of the 2017 biennale which centered around the ecological and technological commonalities of urban settings.
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| Biennale co-director Francisco Sanin gives a press tour of the thematic exhibition at the DDP, Friday. Korea Times photo by Lee Suh-yoon |
"We tried to find the right participants that would bring the conversation about what it means to make a city collective," Francisco Sanin, a co-director of this year's biennale, said during a press tour at the DDP last Friday. "To make a city collective, to make a city that is not privileging people who have money or privileging money as the logic for producing the city, means looking for all the logics that make the city more humane, more inhabitable."
One notable case presented at the thematic exhibition held in the DDP was the transformation of the Danginri Power Plant by the Han River in Seoul. The 90-year-old power plant is being rebuilt underground, freeing up part of the Han River banks for a park and cultural art space.
The DDP exhibition ― the only exhibit that requires a paid ticket at the biennale ― will allow free admissions over the Chuseok long weekend from Sept. 12 to 14.
Donuimun Museum Village, an old neighborhood that was hollowed out due to development but later recast as a retro theme park for the city's preservation efforts, is hosting the exhibition of cities. Scattered across the village, participating cities present their unique yet interlinked urban problems in creative mediums.
Sewoon Electronics Plaza ― by far the most interesting venue that functions within the surviving manufacturing heart of Seoul ― will host university-led projects from around the world plus "live projects" that study marketplaces in the city. The exhibits at Sewoon, however, mostly steer clear of the sociopolitical struggles and controversies surrounding the ongoing demolition of the area for real estate development.
