CHEORWON, Gangwon Province -- An annual art project exploring the historical and contemporary significance of the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas chose Geumhak Street in the Dongsong neighborhood as its venue for 2015.

This year’s “Real DMZ Project,” marking its fourth year with an exhibition titled “Lived Time of Dongsong,” brought together 49 individual and team artists to decorate various locations along the street with pieces reflecting the creators’ thoughts and emotions on the meaning of the DMZ for contemporary Koreans.

In past years, the project utilized facilities in previously restricted areas near the DMZ, such as military bunkers and spots that are now open to tourists. This year, the project was moved to Geumhak Street to make the art more accessible to Cheorwon residents. 

The Dongsong area was chosen because of its history -- it was originally part of North Korea after the end of World War II, but became part of South Korea after the Korean War. The title “Lived Time of Dongsong” highlights the traces of conflict and division of identity that remain in the locals’ collective memory.

“We realized that moving the exhibition to a more everyday location would allow the art to be enjoyed by those whose reality the artists are exploring through their work,” said Lim Hye-jin, a curator of the project, at a press tour on Aug. 13.

Indeed, the works of art sprawl across the store-lined street in a way that brings the pieces into view in the most everyday interactions. Kim Lee-park’s “Moving Gardening - DMZ” (2015) is installed at the entrance to a cafe called “Kind Coffee.” It is a small garden blossoming with flowers in soil that Kim collected from the bottoms of soldiers’ boots coming to Dongsong from the DMZ. “People cannot move freely in and out of the DMZ, but plants can, on soldier’s boots,” he said.

Down the road at Seongshim Pharmacy, artist Chung Won-yeon stood behind a counter displaying her work “Tablet for Soldier’s Heart” (2015). The piece is a box filled with small lacquered handmade tablets created with medicinal herbs, honey and other ingredients. 

“Each one helps with a different emotional condition suffered by soldiers,” she said. The box is accompanied by a booklet with different diagnoses including homesickness and loneliness, and the tablet’s effects on each.

Near the bus terminal leading into Dongsong, Lee Jae-ho’s “Camouflage - A Phone Booth” (2015) is draped over two sets of interfacing phone booths across the street from one another. “The phone booths reminded me of the watch stations at the DMZ, where soldiers from both sides look at each other without really being able to see clearly what the other is doing,” he said. 

The works displayed at the Real DMZ Project until Aug. 23 will be joined with other works of the same theme at an exhibition at Art Sonje Center in Seoul beginning Aug. 29. The exhibition at Art Sonje Center will be designed to spotlight the disparities between the DMZ area and Seoul, and between restricted and public spaces.

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)