작업 소개

김중업 다이얼로그 전시의 협력 기획 및 구성을 진행한 삼삼오오 이성민 총괄 프로듀서의 섭외로 전시에 참여하였다. 김중업 아카이브 자료를 바탕으로 그의 작품 세계를 조망하는 영상 작품과 함께 작업한 동료 건축가, 작가, 평론가 등을 인터뷰한 시리즈 영상을 전시장에 상영하였다.

곽재환 건축가는 현재 건축그룹 칸의 대표로 김중업과의 인연으로 건축계에 입문하였다. 장충동 사무실에서의 추억을 시작으로 김중업과 함께했던 건축 여정을 말한다.

‘건축가의 역할은 무엇인가. 그것은 보다 인간적 차원에서 사회적 이슈를 함께 고민하고 함께 발언하며 건축가가 할 일을 해야 하는 것 아니냐는 건축가의 자세, 이런 부분에 상당히 영향을 받았고 그런 모습이 좋았어요.’

‘If so, what’s the role of architects in the human-nature relation before mediation? It’s the architect’s stance and praxis of pondering on and speaking out together about social issues on a more human level.I was influenced a lot by that and liked it.’

곽재환 (건축그룹 칸)
Kwak, Jae-Hwan (Architect Group CAAN)

프로젝트 내용

《김중업 다이얼로그》전은 한국 현대 건축의 신화적 인물인 건축가 김중업을 조망한다. 하지만 이 전시는 그동안 김중업에 관한 피상적인 진단과 신화화된 측면과는 거리를 두고, 예술과 건축의 관계를 매개로 그동안 논의되지 않았던 다양한 맥락 속에서 작가와 그가 남긴 유산을 살펴보는 전시다. 김중업의 타계 30주기를 기념하기 위해 마련된 이 전시는 한국 현대 건축 전시를 꾸준히 기획해온 국립현대미술관이 김중업건축박물관과 공동으로 준비했다. 건축가 김중업의 생애 전반을 조망하는 첫 대규모 전시로서, 김중업건축박물관의 소장품과 국립현대미술관의 아카이브, 그리고 건물주로부터 대여한 자료들과 사진 및 영상 신작으로 구성했다.

1922년 평양에서 출생한 김중업은 르코르뷔지에 아틀리에에서 실무를 한 뒤 한국전쟁 이후 초토화된 한국 땅에서 한국적 모더니즘을 구현하고자 한 건축가다. 그는 임시수도 부산에서 만난 예술가들과의 네트워크를 기반으로 한국 문화예술계 중심에서 활동하며 예술가 들을 후원하고, 그들과의 협업을 오랜 기간 진행했다. 한국에서 최초의 건축 전시회를 열기도 한 김중업은 전시라는 문화양식을 일찍부터 이해하고 실천한 사람이다. 그는 건축을 건물로 한정하지 않고 담론의 문제로 보고 예술매체에 대한 깊이 있는 탐구를 진행했다. 그러한 사유의 흔적은 그가 남긴 이미지 아카이브에서 발견할 수 있다.

《김중업 다이얼로그》전은 역순으로 진행되는 김중업의 작품 연대기를 첫 번째 대화의 시작으로 연다. 그리고 ‘세계성과 지역성’, ‘예술적 사유와 실천’, ‘도시와 욕망’, ‘기억과 재생’ 등 4개의 주제로 그간 김중업과 그의 작품에 관해 주변부에 머물렀던 문맥들을 펼쳐보이고자 한다. 특히 이번 전시는 그간 논의가 부족했던 김중업의 후기 작업들과 한국의 중요한 예술가들과의 협업 과정, 도시에 대한 그의 생각들을 살펴보는 기회가 될 것이다. 《김중업 다이얼로그》는 이제 막 촉발되기 시작한 한국 건축가 연구의 출발점으로서 건축, 예술 그리고 우리 사회의 다양한 관계망들과 대화의 장을 여는 단초가 되리라 기대한다.

출처: 국립현대미술관 홈페이지 전시소개글

Kim Chung-up Architectural Firm in the 1980s

Back then, Kim’s office was in Jangchung-dong. He’d designed the building earlier. Formerly a garage, the basement was remodeled into an office, and he used the floor above as his home. Around 4-5 people worked in the office. After joining, I worked on the plan for the Seorak Tourist and Leisure Center, then the Jang-an Rehabilitation Center, then the Korea Army Museum, then some prize design contests. I also recall the Gyeongnam Provincial Government building, Busan Cultural Center, Gyeongnam Culture & Art Center, and Busan Memorial Tower for Patriots, that’s about it. After the Korean Educational Development Institute, I recall the Eulji-ro 2-ga 16,17 District Redevelopment, a house in Sajik-dong, and Ji-eun’s house in Seongbuk-dong. The Gunsan Culture Center, Gunsan Women’s Center, and, before the Olympic World Peace Gate, there were the Mokpo Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation and Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Thailand, too.

Shopping Center Sun’s Palace

It was a market, a market project. But saying the concept of traditional markets was outdated, Kim persuaded the building owner to accept a modern market. Naming it “Sun’s Palace,” he created an indoor market. His plan consisted of curves and sharp diagonal lines. Interpreting the market as a boisterous festival, he seems to have imagined a scene where a child plays at a market with the mother, hand in hand.

The most impressive part of Sun’s Palace is the ramp. Nowadays, elevators are universal, but they weren’t so common back then. So, to be freely accessible to many, it was planned as a ramp, which is very powerful visually. The red brick walls and the window design, the bricks’ details and the windows’ shapes, seem to have been influenced by Louis Kahn. Some parts finish very sharply. Contrasting with curves forming the interior, they convey a powerful plastic message. Such elements seem like architectural gestures, giving passersby a powerful image of a market and enticing them.

Plan for the Bada Floating Hotel

Kim planned to launch a big ship at sea and build a pyramidal cone on it. It’d be unrealizable without the technology. a patent on the megastructure. It’s a conical structure on a buoyant foundation. A slanted structure along the circle raised from both sides unites at the top, leaving a big hollow space in the lower center. It’d be unrealizable without modern technology.

Plan for the Seorak Tourist and Leisure Center

The plan for the Seorak Tourist and Leisure Center included many facilities like a hotel, a resort, and bungalows. I was in charge of the circular hotel back then. I planned the hotel as a polygon. In the plan, I placed the hotel by the water so that it’d be linked to the manmade lake below the hill, and you’d enter it through a bridge on the hill. After hearing my explanation of the plan, Kim said, “So you don’t mention it after all” and “I’d raise the hotel and erect it over the water.” When I heard it, it was like being hit with a bamboo clapper. Back then, my awareness was limited, remaining on the land in terms of the boundary between the land and the water, only thinking buildings must be built on the ground. But you can raise them over bodies of water, too. If you erect the hotel over the water, as with piers, You’d not only have its reflection on the lake but also be able to approach it by a boat. That romantic idea suddenly opened up for me.

Gyeongnam Culture & Art Center

In the 1980s, culture centers were built everywhere. So there were many projects, and, in 1981, the Kim Chung-up Architectural Institute took part in the Jinju Culture Center (Gyeongnam Culture & Art Center), which was in a prize design contest. The first site was in the Jinju Castle compound. It had a museum designed by Kim Swoo Geun. It was an exhibition hall for storing artifacts. The guideline was to build a culture center on the same site, After we won the contest, the site was changed to land by the Nam River outside the castle. Kim sketched the building that stands now. The draft fully revealed his plastic language. He seems to have drafted the plan in terms of harmonizing the building with the landscape around.

Eulji-ro 2-ga 16,17 District Redevelopment Plan

It was around 1983. When I returned from the Middle East, there was a prize design contest. Three firms were chosen for their plans, so each tackled one building. We were assigned the main branchof the Industrial Bank of Korea, the one made of glass.

Busan Memorial Tower for Patriots

On a field survey, Kim said each floor of the 9-story pagoda at the 7th-century Hwangnyong Temple had meant something. The pagoda had been built to reflect nine wishes. Modifying it for our tower, I placed columns in nine directions. They were meant to honor the souls in the Nine Heavens of those who’d perished defending the nation. Kim marked nine dots for the columns, which I developed. We raised the columns vertically from them and made the finial.

Olympic World Peace Gate

In 1985, there was a prize design contest for a “Symbolic Sculpture of the ’88 Olympics,” and I began to draft the plan for it. Hosting the ’88 Olympics would be a great milestone in Korea’s long history. So I thought of erecting a monument at the node of the site, and opening up a big square through it, with the 3rd-century Mongchon Earthen Fort behind as the backdrop and the big square left empty for later generations. At the node, we’d set up a kite or a pair of wings to reflect wishes. If it was possible with modern science, We’d launch wings, literally without columns, using the strong repulsive force of magnetism to give wings to Koreans’ wish, to let it soar. But because it wasn’t possible, we had to erect supports. Because we had supports, the monument became door-shaped. I realized the overall shape through a combination of curves, sharp diagonal lines, and acute angles, which was the architectural language pursued so far by Kim. I thus realized in my own way the strong spirit and vigor of the ancient Korean kingdom of Goguryeo and the originary power inherent in Korean shamanism, which Kim always spoke of. We put the Olympic rings on the part linking the two wings. On the
bottomof the ceilings, we put a Four Symbols painting, which is representative of Goguryeo mural paintings.After winning in the prize design contest, we asked Professor Paik Kumnam at Sungkyunkwan University to work on the Four Symbols painting. Installation artist Lee Seung-taek did the masks on top of the columns, or lights, on either side of the gate. I still have the drawings of the masks. The work is harmonious in its own way. The guideline of the prize design contest back then wanted a comprehensive combination of diverse fine art genres.

New Annex, Korean Educational Development Institute

Kim drafted the plan for the new annex of the Korean Educational Development Institute. His first draft wasn’t like the building as it is now. The whole left side, with the stairwell, used to descend in a diagonal line. Now, only the stairwell is in a diagonal line and the rest, which is the office, juts out. They were his developments according to the required programs. His plastic language was very organic, and he often used free curves. The Korean Educational Development Institute has many geometric lines. Except for stuff like the rooftop wind vanes, you see them a lot in the remaining structural design. They, too, seemed like Louis Kahn’s influence.

Architect Kim Chung-up

In the end, architecture is a medium for the ideal combination of nature and humans, not the ultimate goal. If so, what’s the role of architects in the human-nature relation before mediation? It’s the architect’s stance and praxis of pondering on and speaking out together about social issues on a more human level. I was influenced a lot by that and liked it. Because of that aspect, Kim had to wander abroad and missed many chances at good projects later. That was a big misfortune for South Korea. But it was a great lesson for me that architects must live like that, and many younger architects should emulate it in their lives.