SEOUL IN.TO

(Independent.Together) 1919 & 2023 – Walking through Seoul on the past and present.

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GeoinArtLab’s city walking project took ‘independence’ as its theme. The project was carried out in Insa-dong and Nakwon-dong, the area in the center of Seoul, where about 100 years ago, the ‘Manse Demonstrations’ actively took place from Korea’s desire for independence from Japan's occupation. This independence movement, represented by the March 1st Movement, contained values such as children's human rights, equality, and world peace as well as the independence of Korea (Joseon at the time). As we walk along this street, we tried to reflect on who we are today through past events.

IN.TO Pt. I

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ABOUT THE PROJECT

GeoinArtLab has been holding the ‘Samsamsam Art Festival’ centered on this street every year since 2022. This festival aims to artistically express the spirit of the March 1st Movement by connecting it with today. Every year, various programs including performances, exhibitions, lectures, and citizen participation underly one theme, and the theme for 2023 was ‘Ordinary Person[A1] .’ As an extension of that, <IN.TO> attempted to connect the stories of ordinary people desiring independence, with individual ‘walking’. In other words, participants go ‘INTO’ their own thoughts through the experience of encountering the past ‘TOgether’, while walking ‘INdependently’ in the present.

Since this project was carried out simultaneously as part of the 2023 Seoul International Performing Arts Festival (2023SPAF), we wanted to include the nature of performance in city walking. <IN.TO> is a kind of time travel item and begins with the virtual setting, where signals from the past can be detected through special equipment. In that way, while walking down the street wearing AR smart glasses, people could watch a performance at certain points or view text or media art that appeared on the glasses.

While walking through the city following the guidance of a travel guide, you pass through a total of 9 points, and at each point, you can meet people or events from the past. The characters and events of the past are slightly dramatized based on facts from that time, but even stories about current social events and characters, all have parts that are connected enough to be believable. Each point and story are as follows.

In.To Map

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1. Tapgol Park: People

At the Octagonal Pavilion in Tapgol Park, where the Independence Movement took place in 1919, the viewers wear AR smart glasses and prepare to begin their journey. When the three-dimensional sound and dance surrounding the octagonal pavilion begin, the voices of various figures from the past appear in text form on the smart glasses. Then, we enter the past by overlapping the media art of the glasses and the dance of the dancer.

PERFORMANCE: DANCE, DOLBY ATMOS SOUND, ELECTRONIC SOUND
SMART GLASSES: MEDIA ART

2. Samildaero: Shim Young-sik

After crossing the crosswalk on Samil-daero, named in commemoration of the March 1st Movement, you will encounter the story of the blind independence activist Shim Young-sik. Through the smart glasses, Shim Young-sik's words are expressed in text along with a Geomungo (Korean traditional instrument) performance.
We are reminded of the ‘protest to guarantee the right to mobility for the disabled’, which has recently become an issue in Korean society.

SMART GLASSES: SOUND & TEXT

3. World Children’s Movement Monument: Children & parents

Bang Jeong-hwan is a leader in the children's human rights movement. The March 1st Movement embodies the value of equality, including children's human rights. In front of this monument, we think about the No Kids Zone that has recently emerged in Korean society.

SMART GLASSES: SOUND & TEXT

4. Cheondogyo Central Cathedral: Choi Rin & the Declaration of Independence

It is said that in 1919, Choi Rin kept the draft of the Declaration of Independence, written in secret at the time, in Geomungo. Here, the audience listens to the string instrument's performance and receives a draft of the Declaration of Independence. The audience is given the task of completing the blank spaces in the draft and delivering it to the print shop.

PERFORMANCE: GEOMUNGO & ACTING
SMART GLASSES: TEXT

5. Insa-dong: Shin Hwa-soon & Joo San-wol

Insadong-gil is a street famous for antiques. As Joseon's nobility fell, their possessions began to be put up for sale, and the Japanese colonial period opened a window for the plundering of these items. As the Japanese raised store rents and began to give out loans at high-interest rates, Korean small business owners were driven out. Furthermore, kisaengs were sometimes treated as objects of harassment rather than artists. The stories of confectioner Shin Hwa-sun and Kisaeng Joo San-wol (Joo Ok-kyung) are told through smart glasses and performances.

PERFORMANCE: SINGING
SMART GLASSES: SOUND & TEXT

6. Ujeong Chongguk (Postal Directorate): Kang Ju-ryong & Kim Jin-sook

In front of the Post Office, the former Ujeong Chongguk (Postal Directorate), we encounter the stories of workers. In 1929, the cry of Kang Ju-ryong, a worker at a rubber factory in Pyongwon, appears as text on the smart glasses. Then, as if there was a mix up in the radio waves, you can see Kim Jin-sook, a worker at Hanjin Heavy Industries in 2011, overlapping in the glasses. Wage discrimination based on gender, nationality, and status still persists then and now.

SMART GLASSES: SOUND & TEXT

7. Boseongsa (Printing House): Shincheol

Boseongsa (printing house) that printed the Declaration of Independence. Here, the audience completes the draft of the Declaration of Independence distributed to them. They write down what each person thinks ‘independence’ means and what they want to be independent from. At this time, Shin Cheol, a Korean detective, comes in and tries to interfere with the printing, but turns a blind eye due to some reason. Through media art, a printer in operation appears on smart glasses.

PERFORMANCE: ACTING
SMART GLASSES: SOUND, TEXT & MEDIA ART
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

8. Taehwa Building: 33 National Representatives

Taehwa Building is where Taehwagwan (a banquet hall) used to be. Joo San-wol, a kisaeng, sings in pansori (a traditional Korean vocal music genre) about the scene of 33 national representatives reading the Declaration of Independence and being arrested themselves.

PERFORMANCE: PANSORI
SMART GLASSES: SOUNDS & SIGNALS

9. Nakwon Shopping Center

Nakwon Shopping Center is a residential-commercial complex built on Samil-daero. The crowds and cheers that filled Samil-daero at the time are embodied in immersive sound art through speakers installed on the ceiling of the outer wall of Nakwon Shopping Mall, and photos from the time are converted into images through AI technology and shown through smart glasses. The walk then ends with a confession from the elite at the time. “Aren’t they doing things that even elite people like me can’t do? Who will change the world?”

PERFORMANCE: IMMERSIVE SOUND
SMART GLASSES: TEXT & MEDIA ART

Two technologies were used in this project. One is AR smart glasses, and the other is realistic sound (immersive sound) technology. Realistic sound technology created a three-dimensional effect of the dance music with Dolby Atmos sound at Tapgol Park, the starting point of the performance. And at the end, spatial sound was implemented to evoke the feeling of the March 1st Movement of the past. Smart glasses overlap text, media art, etc. on the current background to serve as a link between the past and the present. Sound visualization techniques and artificial intelligence gen-2 were used in this process.

More information & videos about this project (in Korean)

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The world is still at war, and not only visible wars but also invisible wars are taking place at all times. What is the cause of war? It may be a shadow cast by past imperialism, or it may be an issue of capitalism, racism, gender, or class. What will we become independent from? Are we truly free? This is the question we wanted to share through this project.

Credits

UrbanWalks In.To(Independent.Together)
GeoinArtLab

Direction: KIM Joonyoung
Creation: KIM Chai Lin
Media art: KIM Kyungmin
Producer: JUNG Sungjin
Technical director: KIM Kyungmin
Crews: KIM Daenam, KIM Seongjong
Geomungo player: KIM Joonyoung
Actor: AHN Jeongmo
Dancer: YOO Sun-hoo
Pansori performer: SONG Ga young
Electronic music: KIM Juna
Sound art - Cooperation: AUDIOGUY
AR Smart Glasses – Supported by: XPERT INC