Art underground

Artist residency program in Sindang Jungang Market offers unusual art scene


For anyone who has been to Jungang market near Sindang Station in Seoul, it would be hard to imagine that more than 30 artists have their working studios underground. And that some practically live there.

The area is known for its merciless traffic and its overcrowded and colorful market. Stepping through the main gate of the market, you are overwhelmed by the aroma of pickled fish and mung bean pancakes, while endless food stalls lure them with sundae and Sindang-dong’s most famous dish, tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes).

Amid the chaotic lights and noise, only the observant would notice the yellow sign that says, “Seoul Art Space Sindang,” and the entrance that leads underground to the arts and crafts arcade. 

An artist works in his studio at Seoul Art Space Sindang, an underground arts and craft arcade located in Sindang Jungang Market in Seoul. (Seoul Art Space Sindang)

Sindang Jungang Market decorated with artworks created by the resident artists of Seoul Art Space in Sindang-dong, Seoul.

Even after finding the entrance, it’s very easy to think you are in the wrong place. Instead of seeing art brushes or watercolor paint tubes, the first thing visitors come across is the smell coming from the sashimi restaurants lined up one after the other.

“Visitors would call us at the entrance all the time,” says Gang Ji-young, one of the staff members of the Seoul Art Space Sindang. “They’d ask if they are at the right place, saying they only see sashimi restaurants. We’d just tell them to keep walking!”

After three minutes’ walk, the art studios appear. Each studio has the artist’s name on the door, with artwork displayed in the windows. Thirty-six residents practice their art here, including ceramics, metalwork, printmaking and even industrial design. Many often pull all-nighters, as every studio comes with a sink and a heating system.

“Many of the artists here do metal and pottery art,” Gang says. “It’s to do with our location. It’s close to Euljiro where many metal shops are clustered together. So it’s convenient for them when they purchase the materials.”

The studios were established in 2009 by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, as one of the nine “Seoul Art Spaces” for artist residency programs, including one in Yeonhui-dong for writers, an art factory in Mullae-dong, and a center for experimental arts in Seogyo-dong.

Every year, the management team of the art space accepts applications from artists who are in need of their own working space, and selects about 30. Once chosen, each artist is given a studio for free for a year. Artists may reapply for another year by the end of their term. Usually, about half stay and remaining spots are given to new artists.

The 390-meter long underground space was created in 1971 as a market that could double a dugout in emergencies. It reached its heyday as an underground market in the 1970s, selling fabric, traditional “hanbok” garments, sashimi and handicrafts. After the financial crisis hit in the late 1990s, more than half of the 99 stores closed down. Those closed stores are today’s art studios. 

Visitors look at the artwork on display at studios at Seoul Art Space in Sindang-dong, Seoul. (Seoul Art Space Sindang)

There are still about 30 shops and sashimi restaurants left in the arcade. It’s an odd sight to see art studios co-existing with sashimi restaurants, handicraft and hanbok shops, as they create a rare harmony of art and business survival.

Yoon Hye-rim is one of the 36 resident artists, selected from more than 600 applicants in 2010. Last month, she was accepted to stay for another year. Being in Yoon’s studio is like sitting down in a small cafe. She has her white desk and the wall adorned with her dainty metal artworks. She even has a bed behind a curtain, as she enjoys working late at night.

The 27-year-old says being in the studio has helped her find her “own color” as an artist, as she can concentrate on her work without worrying about the cost of her workroom.

“For metal artists, having a separate working space is extremely important,” she tells The Korea Herald. “The nature of our work involves a lot of drilling and dealing with chemicals. So it is impossible to work at home. And having this space has given me the opportunity to grow as an artist. Because I was able to concentrate, I was able to find out who I really am as an artist.”

Being with other artists as well as owners of the shops has inspired her, she says.

“The market for metal art is very small in Korea and it’s very difficult for artists to make a living by doing it,” she says. “Yet being with other artists and talking to them made me realize that I’m not alone in doing this ― and that there is a way to make money.”

While she plans to stay another year at the Sindang arcade, Yoon says she isn’t sure if being an artist is her “job.”

“I heard from someone saying that no job is really a job if one cannot make a living by doing it,” she says. “So my goal for this year’s stay in this studio is to be able to call being an artist my ‘job’ with confidence.”

Another resident artist Noh Ji-hun, who shares his studio with his art business partner, had to work at an internet cafe while preparing his portfolio for the residency program at Seoul Art Space Sindang.

“I quit my job at a design company to do my own art business in this studio,” he says. “But I lived at a ‘goshiwon’ (low-cost, single room accommodation) at the time and there was no way for me and my partner to work together in that tiny room. So we created our portfolio for the residency program at an Internet cafe. We told our judges that during the interview for the program and I think they found it rather interesting.”

Noh, who is currently working on a project called “deco-it,” which consists of butterfly-shaped post-its that also serve as wall decorations, hopes to open his own studio in Seoul after spending at least two years in Art Space Sindang.

For the last two years, the managing team of the art space has been running an “art market” of its own, having the artists’ works available for visitors to purchase. Starting this year, however, an art gallery in Insa-dong will be taking in charge of the sales, said manager Kim Jin-ho.

“The art market actually did very well last year,” he said. “But it takes too much administrative work for us to do that (as we are a public institution). So the buyers from the gallery will choose what they’d like to sell from the output of our artists.”

Currently, there are no support programs available for artists who have completed their residencies.

“I think it’s more reasonable for us to focus on the artists who stay, including the new ones,” he said.

For the sashimi restaurants and other shop owners, who have been staying with the artists for the last two years, the experience has been mostly positive.

“This place used to be very gray and gloomy before the artists came in,” said Lee Hyang-ja, owner of sashimi restaurant No. 5 Hoet-jip she’s been running the restaurant for 20 years.

“It’s nice, really. We get more visitors, and the shops look nicer,” she said, pointing at a fish-patterned, orange-colored curtain in her restaurant, which was created and given by one of the textile resident artists last year. Most of sashimi restaurants in the underground space have been decorated with artworks, as it was a part of public art project of Art Space Sindang artists in the past two years.

Starting next month, Art Space Sindang will run Saturday programs for visitors, where they will have an opportunity to create pottery, textile, metal and paper art for free with the resident artists. For more information about the art space and the program, visit http://www.seoulartspace.or.kr/G03_sindang/main.asp, or call (02) 2232-8833.

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)