Red Room 2011
work note
(a part of Yongsan district destroyed, where there had been red rooms)
Scraps of litters shout themselves hoarse where there were the habitants who were driven out by inhumane city development. And in the extremely narrow rooms are traces of dreams of the women who were not able to escape the lock of reality.
This hidden and secretive place began to attract my interest in the year 2011. This place is only few blocks away from the 4th district of Yongsan where the tragic incident had happened. Though the spot was already in the redevelopment area, it had also been designated as a commercial business area, which made the price of land soar up. People called this area ‘land of gold’. In the later half of the year 2009, the district was neglected and forgotten from the people’s minds, due to the recession of real estate market, the delay of redevelopment and conflicts from retarded compensation.
The forgotten place was a brothel area which are also called red-light district or red rooms. At first, I got an impression that it was so ordinary that I felt as if I entered my sister’s room because there were pretty wall paper, cute shoes scattered. But soon after that, I realized that they had been destroyed and deserted there, and then, came down upon me the feeling of desolation and barrenness.
I felt how hard life the women had led, how unwanted sexual oppression they’d had to endure and how arrogant we had been thinking money makes anything goes in capitalism. While this was not the only place where the humanity could be broken, I was forced to feel the pity and pain from the subjects that were scattered. The women were gone and the things remained in the red rooms which were stained with arrogance of capitalism, sexual desire, hurts of the people who had been there and I worked in the rooms.