I'm preparing my thesis !

So here is the 1st part of the introduction and the abstract, this is my draft and it's maybe too direct.

Beside, I continued 3D scanning stuff and I got some memories of people to mix with the visuals.

Here are some:

- my friend draws her eyebrows, put on make up, for going out to get an ice cream and then come back home. [SO SO]

- lots of students get double eyelid surgery as their graduation gift from their parents [NOT ENOUGH PERSONAL]

- sometimes the ladies at the shops/restaurants that are older than you call you “oppa” or “eonni” that literally means “older brother” and “older sister”, and there is no reason these ladies are just trying to be friendly [NOT ENOUGH PERSONAL]

- if you tell someone your face is small, they are happy [NOT ENOUGH PERSONAL]

- if you tell someone you are skinny, they are also happy [NOT ENOUGH PERSONAL]

- bright, white fluorescent light shining 24/7 has been my old friend. Not anymore. [INTERESTING NEED TO DEVELOP]

- En Corée du sud, chaque homme doit faire un service militaire pour une durée de 2 ans. J’ai fait mon service en tant que la service militaire à la première ligne.
Pourquoi seuls les hommes devraient-ils aller à l'armée?

J'ai perdu 2 années! Rendez moi mes 2 années ! [INTERESTING NEED TO ARRANGE]

-My mom once gave my underwear to a Korean witcher and burned it for remove my bad luck [GOOD]

J's Memories
I was at my friend's house. I was hanging along, chilling. Suddenly my friend's mother told us to come down and see the news. I first couldn't understand what was happening. On the news they were showing a video with smoke all over the island(연평도). At that point, I saw the title of the news 'North Korea fired several missiles, is it a war?.' I was shocked.
When I got home, I was more surprised. My mother bought four gas masks for each of the family members. But the interesting part is that nothing happened, and those masks are still at my home, always welcoming me when I go back home from Seoul. [INTERESTING BUT TOO LONG]

Today I walked on a mountain of trash. It is now converted into a "natural" tourist attraction called Sky Mountain. The garbage is still under our feet, buried under imported soil. This mountain is full of exhaust pipes preventing gaz formation from fermentation. [INTERESTING NEED TO ARRANGE]

내 동생은 졸업하자마자 코수술을 했는데 그게 높이는 수술은 아니었고
코 끝을 높이는거였어 한국 여자애들은 대학교에 가기전에 쌍수나 코수술을 많이 해
My younger sister did plastic surgery just after graduate high school it’s a common situation
Most girl did plastic surgery before enter the univ. [INTERESTING NEED TO ARRANGE]

나는 지갑에 불교 부적을 가지고 다니는데 이건 할머니가 주신거야
그리고 왼손에는 성당 묵주반지를 끼지ㅋㅋㅋㅋ 웃기지만 우리는 종교의 자유가 있어서 친가와 외가의 종교가 달라서 이런 상황이 나오기도 해
I always bring a budism good luck charm in my wallet which is given by grandmather who is my father side
And also i always wear holy ring in my left hand from my mother.
Korean is free to believe in religion [INTERESTING NEED TO ARRANGE]

Abstract

What if humanity took the wrong path throughout its evolution?

I already have my answer. This is basically the starting point of all my projects.

Coming from the country side, during teenage hood I was always thinking about a more promising life in cities. World of possibilities and opportunities. Was I right?

So, I came to Seoul, a fairly big city. Guess what?! I loved it, everything was so fast, the city was vibrant, full of energy, I saw a lot of opportunity, great! … As the time passed, I started seeing more and more the fundament of this booming society. Following egoistic neoliberal rules of my old European conquistador ancestors, any quick modernization come with a price to pay.

However, I also learnt about Korean culture and history and confronting the image of old Korea and contemporary Korea felt like something was wrong. Thus, I thought more important to find a way to share my perspective than looking for a hypothetical job here.

This thesis-based project takes the form of a virtual exploration through a condensate of physical leftovers and human-digitized memory fragments coming from this perpetual culture shock.

1. Introduction

1.1 Purpose and Aim of the Project

1.1.1 Genesis of the Korean Peninsula[1]

Between 40 000 and 30 000 BP during the Paleolithic we found the first proven human occupation of the peninsula.

Then came Jeulmun Pottery Period that correspond with the occidental Neolithic. Around 8000 BCE the first potteries were created, the lifestyle was still focused on hunting and gathering of marine and terrestrial resources, an embryo of agriculture was visible at the end.

The second pottery period equivalent to the bronze age is Mumun, starting in 1500 BCE. Agricultural societies started, it was the beginning of political organizations and the emergence of social classes. Shamanism was the main belief. Small groups of people, organized around a chief, spread across the territory. At the end of this period, groups merged into the creation of 2 states: Gojoseon and Jin.[2]

These pottery periods were followed by the Three Kingdoms period (Samguk). From around 0 AD until 900 AD, we can note a development and complexification of the society. The territory was mainly divided into 3 Kingdoms constantly changing. Dating from this time, we discovered the first written records in old Korean (using modified Chinese writing) through transmission of the first codified religion, Buddhism. And towards the end iron production started.

Next came the first dynasty: Goryeo (900 AD – 1400 AD). Between oligarchy and monarchy, Goryeo was considered as the golden age of Buddhism. The scientific, technical, philosophical, religious, artistic and economic progress was important. As for example, the development of movable metal type printing machine 2 centuries before Gutenberg’s in Europe.[3]

Joseon Dynasty (1400 – 1900 AD) followed. Confucianism took an important place during the end of the previous dynasty. It became the fundament of Joseon dynasty on the cultural, social and political perspective. The organization of the power and the strong hierarchization of the society followed the Confucianism. The beginning of Joseon Dynasty was the apogee of Korea. Rulers of the country improved the political system with new reforms in favor of a better economy, education, social equality. These changes led to an important cultural and scientific advancement, some technologies and studies were the best of the globe. And above all, the most impactful evolution was the creation of Korea’s own writing, the Hangul in 1444 by the king Sejong “The Great” (which is an important character of my project).

After him, the kingdom was less stable, it got threatened and invaded by Japan then Mongol many times. It was confronted to internal conflicts and struggling leaders. Thus, the conditions became less suitable for more progress.

Later, during half a century, pain and hardship took over the country. In 1910 Japan invaded Korea, and in 1950 the Korean war broke out, the peninsula got divided again.[4]

Rapidly at the end of the 19^th century, Christianism gained an important popularity and is now the first religion in front of Buddhism.[5]

1.1.2 An Overview of Modern Korea

After the war, both Koreas deeply destroyed had to rebuild themselves. I’m only going to deal with South Korea in this part because I don’t have enough information about North Korea and it is not the topic of my thesis.

Korea and its inhabitants always succeeded at recovering and keeping unity through their neo-confucianist values, which is part of their shared identity. This secular unity and homogeneity of the population is partly due to Korea’s geographical situation, to its previous politic of self-isolation and to the difficulty for foreigners to fit in this coded and stratified society.[6]

This unity was, I believe, one the main reasons why Korea rebuild and modernized itself so fast. Between 1962 and 1994 South Korea economy grew at average of 10% annually.

This period called the Miracle of Han River, and even after, drastically changed Korea power in the world, it became part of the G20 in 2010.

Furthermore, most importantly for my project, it changed Korea’s landscape and cities, impacted the population and their culture.[7]

Apartment towers started to be built en masse in the 60’s and now became a key element to Korea modern architecture. Destroying traditional neighborhoods, they sprouted all over the country, not only in big cities. People from the countryside are now surrounded by these concrete monoliths. Around 74% of the population wants to live in high-rise apartments and 72 % of the population was living in both high-rise and smaller apartment towers in 2005. The average Korean moves every 5 years to a new apartment.[8]^,[9]

The post war generation had to work hard and live in low conditions, often witnessed starvations and health problems, in order to rebuild the country following the new economic plans of the industrial revolution. They sacrificed themselves for their children’s future. But this situation is left behind by the new generation. Their pensions are very low, welfare too, 45% of Koreans over 65 live under poverty. Suicide rate is the second highest amongst OECD countries and elderly suicides represent more than half of all suicides, the highest.[10]

To survive, old people pick up cardboard and trashes to sell them back to trash processing centers. They are part of everyday life on the streets.

However, there are not the only ones sacrificing themselves for the hypothetical future of their descendant. Competition is present at any stage of the life for every social groups. Early students need to get good grades to access to good schools, then to good universities, then good jobs and after that they need to get a good wife/husband and finally they will pass on the mission to their children. All of that means social pressure, overwork, etc.[11] As the pressure increases birth rate is decreasing and the population is getting older but there is no immigration politics such as Australia or USA.[12] This intense system is enforced by Chaebols, a small number of families owning the biggest companies monopolizing all 3 sectors of the economy on all levels making complicated for small companies to be independent. Tied to the government, they control the country.[13] This homogenous society is not helping with diversity, as for result, almost only one way of living prevail, office work and apartment towers is the common goal. In this life surrounded by concrete, nature and ecology are forgotten. Small patches of cultivated garden between two towers in the suburban area are often the last relics. Overconsumption and pile of trashes waiting to be picked up and buried, incinerated or exported to China is never questioned nor part of daily conversations, as well as Korean air pollution is only attributed to China in common thoughts.[14] In order to feed this post war expanding middle class, agriculture had to be intensified, using pesticides, chemicals sterilizing soil overtime.[15]^,[16] Nevertheless, most of the country is mountainous so it now depends heavily on importations. The health system’s efficiency is such that the extensive use of antibiotics and strong medication is strengthening germs resistance.[17]

This rise of the middle class implies more education and more entertainment. Education and entertainment evolved following the western model so well that they are now attracting foreigners, the Hallyu wave is so big that KPop is sometimes 1^st on the music top chart and Korean dramas are popular all around the world. The exported culture of South Korea is comparable to American soft power.[18] But, as South Korea reached the same level of modernization as America or other rich countries, it stopped there. Education in Korea is not innovative, it doesn’t tackle post economical growth needs, it only lays on the pseudo-fundamental belief that a student will get hired by a company. However, nowadays, it’s getting more and more difficult for students to find a decent job and they don’t have enough freedom and knowledge about sectors that would fit the economical transition to create innovative companies.[19] Moreover, the monopolized entertainment sector is undermining any attempt of breaking the Pop laws in place and hence favorizing standardization.

Even though, the maximum working hours have been reduced from 68 to 52 a week, Korean people work a lot and often stay with their colleague and boss after work to have a drink. Although any kind of drugs are forbidden and reprimanded, Koreans have by far the world record in consumption of hard liquor.[20] And we can add that using prostitution is also widespread amongst men of all generations. 1/5 of men in their 20’s admitted to buying sex at least 4 times a month. Most of the prostitute are runway kids and/or abused kids who are enslaved by pimps, a lot of them are minors and some of them starts as early as 12 years old. This issue is taboo.[21]

1.1.3 Idea Behind the Project

Korea is gaining popularity and is usually portrayed as an efficient, modern and exemplary country. However, while staying here I’ve learnt that this statement should be nuanced. Nothing is perfect and Korea too.

On a different level and proportions, Korea is facing the same problem as other modernized country. That is why, I want to take South Korea as an example of a modernized country.

Because of its history, I suppose that Korea as a country is now trying to affirm its identity in this globalized world.

With the following work, I’m trying to show modern Korea as a patchwork of trauma, an urbanized Korea that is endlessly recovering, looking for the right way to exist as an independent country.

1.2 Thesis Process

In order to represent the idea behind the project, I use a naturalist approach. Each time I see something that makes me think of overconsumption, gentrification, junk modernism, I stop and 3D scan it. The process is simple, I take my phone and take pictures around the object I want to save. Then, the computer process them to make 3D objects.

After collecting all of these samples, I mix and organize them to create a 3D environment in which the audience can wander. The goal is to make the audience feel what I feel by intensifying it.

The second part of this project is the soundscape of this virtual environment. In this audio atmosphere we can ear computer generated voices. I asked some Korean friends to send me testimonies of their experiences illustrating Korean life. I, then make a computer voice read these human memories and I record it.

I’ve chosen this technique over recording human voices because I want to give these stories a universal and neutral tone as well as emphasizing the dehumanization coming from this virtualized landscape. Also, it brings up this uncanny valley effect that question our anthropocentrism as a sentient species, we tend to feel empathy for the computerized voice but not for the real human being behind this testimony.

[1] https://wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Korea

[2] https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistoric_Korea

[3] https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Goryeo

[4] https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseon

[5] https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_Korea

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Confucianism

[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_on_the_Han_River

[8] “Understanding Korea Series No.5 A Cultural History of the Korean House” Jeon BongHee – 2017

[9] “Why dream of a high-rise apartment?” Sung So-young for Korea Joongang Daily – 2010

[10] “No country for old Koreans: Moon faces senior poverty crisis” Kim Jaewon for Nikkei Asian Review – 2019

[11] “'Hell Joseon' and the South Korean generation pushing to breaking point” Mike Williams for ABC Radio National – 2020

[12] “Population Aging and International Migration Policy in South Korea” Dong-Hoon Seol – 2018

[13] “South Korea’s chaebol problem” Iain Marlow for The Globe and Mail – 2015

[14] https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution_in_South_Korea

[15] “Agricultural Pesticide Usage and Prioritization in South Korea” Eun Shil Cha, Mihye Jeong & Won Jin Lee – 2014

[16] “Review of Agricultural Policies in Korea” OECD – 1999

^{^[17]} “Overview of Antibiotic Use in Korea” Baek-Nam Kim – 2012

[18] “세계화와 디지털 문화 시대의 한류” Hong Seok-kyeong – 2013

[19] “'Hell Joseon' and the South Korean generation pushing to breaking point” Mike Williams for ABC Radio National – 2020

[20] “The country with the world's worst drink problem” Steve Chao & Liz Gooch for Aljazeera – 2016

[21] “Save My Seoul” Jason Lee and Eddie Lee – 2017

Thesis Research 2 - Last Blog

Thursday, March 26, 2020

WEEK #2

Saturday, March 21, 2020

WEEK #1