Rebirth
환생

Rebirth
140 x 140 x 915cm, 1,374 discarded headlights
Solo Exhibition
2006.09.30 ~ 10.30
Cheunggye Stream _ Seoul _ Korea
Collected
Hanabank, Seoul, Korea

ChumsungDae which has been an observation balloon begin to light oneself.
Rebirth _ In this exhibition, pick a star at the Cheonggye creek, best existing observation balloon in the East, Chunsungdae (31st national treasure reincarnates as a new life with the waste headlights whose number is the same as the age of Chumsungdae.
Newly reincarnated Chumsungdae commemorate historical meaning of the Cheonggye creek’s rebirth which is symbol of environmental restoration. Chumsungdae in the Cheonggye creek is also make people review social, historical and ecological surrounding in this era, and circumstance and life in the future at the same time.
And Rebirth _ Chumsungdae become a place to enlighten people about importance of circumstance and life with value of life and thought of art as an rebirth mounment.


Solo exhibition 'Picking stars at the Cheunggye Stream' opening view

Hanabank Tower, Seoul (Collected by Hanabank)

Rebirth _ THe process of Work

‘Rebirth’ means born again. It is not a ‘Birth’, but a ‘Re- Birth’ and it is not the ‘First’. It is a beginning of a new concept and a new history by re-born with own previous history.
The continuous dash and development to the new technology become intimidate human life causing environmental problems, such as Endocrine disruptors, which is irreparable with scientific technology. Like well-being culture which was explosively issued all over the country, the efforts to bring a nature which is already too far from our life close to the human life have been struggling with the help of numerous new technologies. Belated attentions to the nature are shown as efforts not to return but to protect and maintenance current nature which are not damaged yet, insisting LOHAS (Lifestyles Of Health And Sustainability).
‘Running time’ means creating a history. With the time consuming, the present become the past, and the past become a history. ‘Using’ means getting old and there is a history in that oldness. However, there is a point that a new one replaces the old one for another use in our everyday life. At the point of it, old things are discarded and new things are bring to use. We are continuously repeating this curriculum. Using, getting old, discarded and new one… Technological developments are continuously practicing in this course. More convenient and more effective technologies are necessary to adapt for the changing life with the development of life and culture.
The ‘Chumsungdae’ in the history was architecture. It is the oldest one in present Korean architecture that exists without any modification having 1,374years of long history. It had built for astronomical observation to see the movement of a celestial sphere and all of scientific knowledge and head technologies of the day were gathered for it. It was an astronomical observatory to foresee the future and on the other hand, it was a symbolical monument to reinforce the royal authority of the Queen ‘Sunduck’ who was the 27th monarch of the Shilla. The main materials of regenerated ‘Chumsungdae’ are headlights from discarded cars. The lights have a history that had been brighten forehead as the eyes of the car and they end up their life as a light. The ended up lights meet the LED lighting, which is one of the new technological material of architecture and brighten the world with a new significance. ‘Rebirth’, in other words ‘born again’ has a meaning. It is not only a remaking of the same one after using all its life, but a reproducing with another new meaning. The ‘Chumsungdae’ which has born again through the <Rebirth> exhibition has a historical meaning itself. All of the new technologies of the day were used for it, and it was based on the surprising Providence of the nature. The ‘Chumsungdae’, as architecture, still has its shape after 1,374 years passed on. However, the meaning as a place to observe a celestial sphere does not remain any more in the present science and culture which has been undergo a complete change throughout thousands of time. It has already replaced to the neo technology for the practical use. Despite of it, the historical significance of the ‘Chumsungdae’ has still been succeeded to the present. That is because the ‘Chumsungdae’ had not only built with practical necessary but has got a cultural and political meaning of the day, ‘Shilla’.
The <Rebirth> has built on the basement of H-Frame with the same size, 9m height and 5.5m width, as the original one. It is a symbolic monument and reproducing of architecture at the same time. The joint of the history of 1,374 years and new lighting technology has a meaning as a material to brighten a new light to the architectural shape of regenerated ‘Chumsungdae’. It is also a birth as a monument to conceive the environment at the point of transitional stage between science and nature with the medium of ‘headlights’ which are thrown away after use.
<Rebirth> is a work that the environmental meaning and concept of the ‘Rubbish Museum’ has shown as architecture, and it is shown the process to deliver the concept through the material which had shown on the previous work <the flower of evil>. This work will repeat the second and third ‘re-birthing’ as a new life with a historical emblem, scientific technology, architectural value and another significance.