Close

Local Public Art Projects

Noksapyeong Station Underground Art Garden, 2018

Summary

  • Type

    Local Public Art Projects

  • Year / Period

    2018

  • Space

    Noksapyeong Station *On Display

Infusing Subway Stations with the Artistic Spirit of Light, Forest, and Earth
Cultivating a beautiful underground art garden

<The Noksapyeong Station Underground Art Garden is a regional public art project launched in 2018 that transformed one of Seoul's most everyday spaces, the Noksapyeong Station subway station, into a cultural and artistic space, in line with the project's goal of installing representative public artworks that fit the local characteristics and historical context. <The Noksapyeong Station Underground Art Garden exhibited works according to the theme of the entire station and returned the entire station, which had been vacated through the relocation of the ticket gates, to the public. The project was one of the most notable projects of the Seoul Museum of Art, receiving more than 150 reports in overseas media articles, magazines, TV, and radio broadcasts, including the 2019 Korea Public Design Award, and Dance of Lifht, which was exhibited in the main hall, won the 2020 Good Design Global Award hosted by Japan.

Noksapyeong Station, the subject of the 2018 regional public art project <Noksapyeong Station Underground Art Garden>, is the only subway station in Seoul with 2,100 square meters of underground light along with Yangcheon-gu Office Station on Line 2. It is located in Yongsan-gu, the center of Seoul, and is a major corridor connecting Gyeongridan-gil and Itaewon along with the Liberation Village, where various cultures and languages mix to create a unique culture. <For the Noksapyeong Station Underground Art Garden project, we held an international nomination contest and selected nominated artists to create works that fit the project while considering the spatial characteristics of the subway station. Inspired by the original meaning of Noksapyeong, which means "green grassy field," Noksapyeong Underground Art Garden organized exhibitions under the themes of "light," "forest," and "earth," and created a space with 14 public artworks and 600 plants by seven domestic and international artists. In addition, a gallery and a seminar room were created on the first and fourth basement floors, respectively, to host various civic programs, transforming Noksapyeong Station from a functional space as a transportation platform into an empathetic place where citizens can enjoy and interact with culture and art in their daily lives.

Works such as "Dance of Light," the winner of the international nomination contest, are located on the first basement floor of Noksapyeong Station; "Forest Gallery," which features the sounds of the forest in the waiting room on the fourth basement floor; "Times of the Wall," which adorns the walls of the fourth basement floor; "Noksapyeong, Here..." on the ceiling of the fourth basement floor; and "Flow," which decorates the passageway. On the platform of the fifth basement floor, "Chronicle of Moments: Cave of Depths" is displayed on the theme of "Temperature of the Earth," and in addition to the exhibits, there are "Plant Counseling Center" and participation programs "Micro Life: Become a Mushroom," "Fleeing Flowers," and "Noksapyeong Memory Exchange.

01 Planning

The Regional Public Art Project is a project that promotes the realization of representative public art works that fit the regional characteristics and historical context of 'only one' target site selected through an annual competition. In other words, the goal is to identify areas, facilities, and places where public art is essential, implement public art that reflects the characteristics of the target site, and discover it as a place that citizens remember and frequently visit in their daily lives.
In 2018, the Noksapyeong Station area on Line 6 was selected as the target site. Prior to the project, a basic survey on public art in the Noksapyeong Station area was conducted for three months from November 2017 and a basic plan was established. In addition, the project was completed by preparing a budget, selecting a target site, and completing preliminary inspections. In cooperation with the Seoul Metro, we considered how to utilize the entire station space in three dimensions. For about a year from March 2018, the project was executed, including researching the area, recruiting artists, holding an open call for works, planning a pilot program, and proposing a roadmap for a mid- to long-term operation plan.

02 Process

Preliminary Local Research

Public art as a form of placemaking allows citizens to have a different experience of place from the everyday spaces they pass by casually, and transforms spaces that have been left unused into special places. A multifaceted understanding of the area is essential in order to utilize everyday spaces without interfering with the lives of citizens, while at the same time providing new experiences in line with the changing times.
In 2018, the Noksapyeong Station Underground Art Garden project began by analyzing the current status of the site. The Korean word Noksapyeong literally means "green grassy field," and historically it was a grassy area that was largely uninhabited for a long time. Geographically, it is located in Yongsan-gu, the center of Seoul. As a major corridor connecting Gyeongridang-gil and Itaewon, along with the Liberation Village, the area is characterized by a mix of different cultures and languages, pursuing alternative lifestyles and creating a unique culture. From a future perspective, the area is facing a new turning point with the relocation of the Yongsan U.S. Military Base and the parkization project. Meanwhile, a perception survey was conducted among users of Noksapyeong Station to gain a general understanding of citizens' perceptions and experiences of the historic space, and major facilities and improvements were identified through a floor-by-floor analysis of the historic space.

Developing ideas

For the underground art garden at Noksapyeong Station, the plan was to utilize art and plants as themes to break away from the functional space for subway use and to reimagine Noksapyeong Station as a place for interaction and empathy between various entities. Accordingly, a big picture of the Noksapyeong Underground Art Garden was drawn, with the goal of creating an imaginary space where everyday spaces that pass by are expanded and cultivated together. This included three major plans. Installing artworks in the main hall and the 4th and 5th underground floors, creating idle spaces on the 1st and 4th underground floors for plant gardens and civic engagement programs, and running a pilot project program with cultural organizations, local communities, and artists to ensure the continued use of each space. In addition, the relocation of the ticket gates in conjunction with the Seoul Metro has transformed the use of the site to give back to the public the majority of the unoccupied historical space.

How it worked

The Noksapyeong Station Underground Art Garden sought to discover a new public art project that observes and explores the meaning and value of plants, which remain constant in an ever-changing world, through the theme of 'Encountering the shapes of light, listening to the sounds of the forest, and feeling the temperature of the earth.' An international call for nominations and an exhibition of nominated artists were held to create works that fit the project while considering the spatial characteristics of the subway station.
To create a new artwork for the glass dome that occupies the central part of Noksapyeong Station, an international nomination contest was held under the theme of 'The Shape of Light'. Among the four nominated artists from Korea and abroad, 'Dance of Light' by Yuri Naruse & Jun Inokuma was finally selected through expert judging. In addition, spatial composition works by artists Kim Ae-yeon and Kim Won-jin were installed in the waiting room on the 4th basement floor and the platform space on the 5th floor, themed 'Sound of the Forest' and 'Temperature of the Earth' respectively, and a curated exhibition was organized by artists Cho So-hee, Jung Hee-woo, and Jung Jin-soo.

사진

Noksapyeong Station Project International Nomination Competition | Yuri Naruse & Jun Inokuma Proposal Sketch
Main Hall, 21m diameter × 35m depth

사진
사진

Realization

Due to the nature of public spaces that are used by citizens all the time, considering the specificity of the space was as important and challenging as realizing a complete artwork in accordance with the planning intention. To this end, various regulations, deliberations, and special matters such as safety were examined in advance to determine feasibility, and a plan was prepared to manage the project stably in consideration of the appropriate execution budget and completion deadline, and to minimize inconvenience to citizens during the installation period.

Pilot Project Operation

In the case of the Noksapyeong Station Underground Art Garden, pilot content and participation programs were designed to help citizens create the place and public nature of Noksapyeong Station, focusing on the newly created exhibition space 'Glitter Garden' and civic participation space 'Garden of Time' in the underground passage on the first floor of Noksapyeong Station and the rotunda on the fourth floor. The pilot project will serve as a welcome to discover various participants and build a solidarity network that will lead the Noksapyeong Station project in the long term. An operational plan and manual for the project was established with the goal of continuing to be operated by citizens who produce art, plants, and gardening cultural contents in the neighborhood in the future.

External Reaction (Noksapyeong Station Underground Art Garden)

"The dome shape of the exterior of Noksapyeong Station is in context with the interior space. In addition to the simple function of the subway space, changes in the composition system and sculptural framework of the architectural space were sought in terms of improving the architectural quality required with the passage of time. The context of light centered on the dome and the interaction with the past, present, and future opens up a new sense of place in the underground space."

-Architecture and Urban Research Information Center Archive

"Noksapyeong Station has a very unique context in Seoul. Ecologically, it is the nodal point of the North-South green axis that runs through the center of Seoul, connecting Bukhansan, Namsan, Yongsan Park, Han River, National Seoul Hyeonchungwon Park, and Gwanaksan, and it is also a crossroads that enters the middle of cultural exchanges and frictions from all over the world, including Yongsan, Yongsan Park, Taeewon, Gyeongridan-gil, and Liberation Village. Noksapyeong is a hybrid ecosystem of culture and nature, and is evolving into a multidimensional space where two spatial scales overlap: the local of Yongsan and the international of the world."

- Ayeon Kim, Professor of Landscape Architecture, College of Urban Science, Seoul National University

Citizen Response (Noksapyeong Underground Art Garden)

"Among the Seoul Museum of Art's projects, the Noksapyeong Station Underground Art Garden has been one of the most publicized since its official opening. It has been covered in more than 150 international press articles, magazines, TV and radio broadcasts, and has been visited by overseas organizations and media, including the Quebec Design Association, the Hong Kong Press Association, the Foreign Correspondents' Press Tour of Korea, and the Deputy Culture Minister's Press Tour. According to the Seoul Metro's January-April 2019 transportation performance statistics, the number of people getting on and off the train increased by 117% in March compared to February 2019, and it was selected as one of the 'places to visit in May' recommended by the Korea Tourism Organization. It was also honored at the 2019 Korea Public Design Award (Prime Minister's Award) organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

"I learned that public art is when many people come together to make art, so it was nice to be able to do various activities. I wish there were more experience programs."

- Kim Eunjae (Yeongdeungpo, 9)

"It's difficult because of climate change these days, but it's good to have exhibitions and events that deal with eco-friendly topics. I wish it was better publicized so more people could see it."

- (Pseudonym) Boss (Yeongdeungpo, 40)

"I felt like I was in nature. It's underground, closed off on all sides, but it feels like a bigger place. I thought public art was just about painting and making sculptures, but coming here changed my perception."

- Ando Gun (Guri, Gyeonggi-do, Korea, 13)

"Usually you have to visit a museum to see artwork, but it's nice to see it in a subway station where people use it a lot and come and go."

- Kim Sun-min (Gwanak-gu, 20)

"I think it's good that art can be easily accepted in such an accessible place."

- Imyoung Lee (Seongbuk-gu, 30s)

사진
사진
사진
사진

CNN Travel's "6 Most Beautiful Stations on the Seoul Subway" (2011)

사진
사진
사진
사진
사진

The Noksapyeong Station project was designed to transform one of Seoul's most mundane spaces, the subway station, into a cultural space through public art. It aims to allow citizens to experience a variety of public art in their daily lives and to provide artists with opportunities for interaction and empathy to realize works that reach out to citizens' daily lives.
The theme of 'Underground Art Garden' is inspired by the original meaning of Noksapyeong, which means 'green grassy field'. Noksapyeong Station, along with Yangcheon-gu Station on Line 2, is the only subway station in Seoul with a huge 2,100 square meters of underground light. You can see 14 public artworks by seven artists and 600 plants, which are organized according to the direction of the light: 'Light' in the main hall on the first basement floor, 'Forest' in the waiting room on the fourth basement floor, and 'Earth' in the platform on the fifth basement floor.
In addition, the ticket gates on the second basement level were moved to the fourth basement level, opening the entire station to all citizens. The neglected space has been transformed into a gallery (B1F), seminar room (B4), and indoor garden that anyone can use, and various civic programs such as exhibitions, art programs, lectures, and presentations have been expanded.
The Noksapyeong Station Underground Art Garden is not just an addition to the subway station, but a new attempt to change the way the previously unused subway space is utilized. To ensure that the artwork blends seamlessly into the existing space, the artwork and civic space were filled in along the internal structure of the station, making the entire station a museum and a work of art in itself. By revitalizing the area and expanding the relationship between people and nature, Noksapyeong Station has become a one-of-a-kind subway station that can only be experienced in one place in Seoul.

Layout of the Noksapyeong Station Underground Art Garden

사진

All works published on this site are protected by copyright law.
They may not be reprinted, edited, or distributed without authorization from the City of Seoul.
*Inquiries: Seoul Design Policy Division, 02-2133-2710

Associated projects