The Seoul Container

Container_Seoul: SS4-2

The container, previously viewed as a vehicle for dissemination of commercial products in the chain of production and consumption in the industrial era, is transformed into a platform for sharing and integration of the cultural information and urban experience of differing geographies. As a transitory docking station, Container_Seoul: SS4-2 connects people from different backgrounds through works that are rooted in Korean media culture. These works highlight the relational aspect of new information technology, in that the art becomes a catalyst for creating new relations among people.

As one of the most fast-tracked megacities in the globe, Seoul has its own unique urban environment—a constant shifting of spaces through urban development, on- and off-line collective movement and instant rapport among people enhanced and emboldened by new-media technologies. At the center of these experiences is the person as a focal point of diverse human relations. This person, or, shall we say, the end-user, is no longer a solitary individual in the Western traditional sense; rather, she is viewed as an inter-subject, or "in-between-peopleness" in old Chinese. Container_Seoul: SS4-2 stresses physical and emotional contact among people as the instigator of intersubjectivity. The artists create situations where such relations, induced by contacts and interpersonal exchange, engender some collective resonance among the participants.

One of the contemporary urban conditions is the emerging nomadism through the interplay of mobility, information networks and the human body. Sound emanating from street vendors and flashing lights from LEDs, for example, has changed the urban environment, while some "temporary private zones" have been established by the ever-increasing use of mobile phones and wireless networks. Taeyoon Choi's Movable Types and Instant Spaces (Fig. 7) starts as research into nomadic architectures of Korea and progresses into architectural installations and workshops, and finally, a performative parade engaging the public in the city of San Jose, California. Performers and the public wear a sculptural construction that resembles movable type architectures while trespassing the boundaries of public and private experiences. They wander around the city of San Jose and eventually find a temporary settlement in that structure. Each suite makes computer-generated and sampled sounds from the original locations of movable-type architecture in Korea. The Movable Types and Instant Spaces project is based on research into nomadic structures in urban spaces—temporary architectures, such as vendors, tents and advertisements that are manifestations of human perception of local space.

The other component of Container_ Seoul: SS4-2 is Delivery, by Love Virus, an ongoing art project by 21 participating artists who created ad hoc networks of people based on empathy and affinities in Korea. The challenge for Love Virus in San Jose would be to create a rapport that could sustain meaningful connections

Fig. 7.

Team Jangseung | Taeyoon Choi, Tellef Tellefson, Cheon pyo Lee, Movable Types and Instant Spaces, Blue tent wearer, architecture, wearable device, 2006. (Seoul container)

Photo © Taeyoon Choi

across differing cultures and backgrounds. Among the Love Virus artists, Kim Joon and Jang Woosuk hail from Korea and deliver the "Love Newspaper" and "Iron Box" to the audiences (Fig. 8). Iron Box, referring to a box for the special delivery of food in Korea, will be used as a miniature of a container containing various cultural items, including the artists' works. When people call a certain number, the Box will be delivered as the medium or creative artistic instrument for free and imaginative human communication and interaction. Also, the audiences will be invited to leave their love stories in San Jose on- and off-line with different perspectives and distinctive flare. The stories will be published as the Love Newspaper, with a "Love Map," and delivered to their homes.

Fig. 8.

Love Virus's Kim Joon and Jang Woosuk, Delivery, media box, newspaper, 2006. (Seoul container)

© Jang Woosuk. Photo © Dooeun Choi

These projects will reclaim the natural human spirit of San Jose by recovering and celebrating the individual as a unique...