Future Land 2013
work note
In the 13th year of King Seonjo’s reign (1580), Songgang Jeong Cheol, then governor of Gangwon-do, passed by Goduam (Kkoldu Rock). Upon seeing this rock, Jeong Cheol predicted, “In the distant future, because of this rock, countless people will gather in this remote mountain valley and look up to it.” His prophecy seemed to come true when a tungsten mine opened here in 1923, attracting people from all over the country and forming a bustling town.
There was a city that once boasted material wealth as a social foundation during the industrial era. Tens of thousands of people built their lives in this city in search of prosperity and happiness. However, the material abundance did not last long. In the violently passing years, people left, and only traces remained.
As I looked at this space, I became curious. What landscape did Jeong Cheol see? How could he predict that many people would live in this remote mountain area? It certainly wasn’t the tungsten mine that Jeong Cheol saw. What did he see, or rather, what did he feel? To understand what that was, I had to pick up my camera.
Cities exchange and consume everything. The work of observing and exploring a city can reveal underlying desires. Setting an intentional perspective of viewing the past from the future might be the quickest and most effective way to expose the essence of the era.
The ruins left behind by the city and the lives that departed may represent what we will face in the future—a glimpse of the urban landscape to come.