Mullae-dong_ 2.0 public installation

A combined synthesis of projects and ideas from the 2011 spring semester was determined to be the best option for a 1:1 design and build project for the 2011 summer workshop. adaptLAB design studio, along with artist community members, collaborated in planning a mobile structure capable of being set-up in various locations in the village as needed for exhibition, event, performance, and leisure activities. Design inspiration was taken from local material forms in Mullae village. 'Wrapped' frames, conceived as site accessories, are to function as furniture, projection surface- film screening, exhibition surface, weather shelter, and above all-open to interpretive use. The idea to erect the installation, initially on the roof tops, is to be followed by seasonal installments at street level. 

<under construction>

Mullae-dong public exhibition

An exhibition of public project ideas at project space LAB39 in Mullae dong artist village.

Mullae-dong_ 1.0 public project proposals

In the spring of 2011 graduate students from the GSAKU conceived design proposals for adapting the urban industrial spaces of Mullae village for common public use. The objective of the projects invited community input and critique, in order to establish a base of realistic ideas for a summer 2011 construction workshop.

<Project 1> 

The unimpeded decay of industrial buildings becomes template for information gathering in the digital age. Facades function as story tellers and record keepers for visitors, with the assistance of handheld digital devises, the public can learn about the history of Mullae, current events, as well as serving as way finding network. It is the merger of analogue and digital. 

author: Junwook Kim

<Project 2> 

A survey of the voids and gaps of Mullae reveals opportunity for marginalized re-use. Spaces currently rubbish filled and forgotten are conceived as new public in the form of exhibition, event, socializing and the like. The 'packing' of gaps recalls the present day conditions of steel works and the efficiency of materials handling and storage. The voids create a network of experience for visitors, connected by way of a serendipitous path for free exploration around the village.

authors: Felix Hartz and Frank herzog

<Project 3> 

Mullae has contrasting cycles of change, from day to night, when industrial activities end and the night 'work' of artist studios begin. Night time in Mullae is of emptiness, dark with the absence of people and visible activity. This proposal is positioned as an awakening of public accessibility and dialogue between Mullae and surrounding neighborhood after hours. Something that is presently missing in the village; nightlight. 

author: Changho Lee

<Project 4> 

Existing appurtenant structures establish a system for extension and construction, allowing new impromptu public performance spaces to be realized. By night and weekend times the streets are stages for open performance without the aids of spatial definition. This project contributes to the formation of defined public, deployable at the will of local communities.  

author: Gaeun Kim

Mullae-dong_ 0.6 urban archeology- rediscovering Mullae

Local artist initiatives beginning in 2007 by removing waste and debris that had collected for the better part of the previous decade on Mullae rooftops. In a sense the work became a reclamation of urban space, in step with the labors and resources at the hands of the artists. Forgotten and neglected by indifferent owners the willingness to clean up roof tops and thus stake claim to a new form of community space. 

Today rooftops function as event, exhibit, leisure, work spaces amongst other activities and provide an open public necessity otherwise hard to find in Mullae. The rooftops in effect have taken the place of streets as places of mediation and discourse. Connections to the surrounding high rise apartments and neighboring buildings is now visibly tolerable and an emerging arts scene, exposed to the sky, is an urban gallery for the neighborhood at large. 

The city itself and Mullae-dong specifically is a public gallery, open and accessible to all.

Image courtesy project space LAB39: 

'The City is Ours' 2007 rooftop project initiative

Mullae-dong_ 0.5 local collaboration

Students from Konkuk University in Seoul have been collaborating with local artists of Mullae-dong in  ongoing dialogue (and process) for projects in Mullae's collective public realm. The collaborative effort with project space LAB39 in particular has been instrumental as a connection point to local events, information and shared knowledge about Mullae's artist scene.

october 2010 

march 2011

may 2011

june 2011

july 2011

Mullae-dong_ 0.4 composition public to private overlaps

Public and private spaces overlap in time dependent cycles. The normally public street is of limited weekday accessibility, as the local nature of industrial function preside. The streets are defined by material edges; steel plate ground cover, overhead hoist extensions with taught covers of makeshift configurations define an ambiguous difference between public and private. 

Images courtesy of Jang Jiyoung (student works)

Mullae-dong_ 0.3 composition private

Mullae-dong is made private by material devises and covers. Wrapped spaces are common sights in the village. Plastic 'tarpoline' makes separation possible; that between what is public and what is private. The pliable material is readily moved or adapted for variations in cover as needed daily. 

Industrial space is demarcated by hoist structures that define a working edge during weekday and open shop times. Steelwork spaces recede deep into obscurity. Shadowed by limited light or that which is only necessary perform daily operational functions. It is an economy of means in the village for both Industry and artist.