고인돌, 용, 엄지손가락, 세종대왕: 올림픽 조각공원 형성과정을 통해서 본 ‘미술과 공공장소’의 관계

Abstract

This essay examines the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seoul as a public space, or heterotopia, a concept formulated by Michel Foucault. As a site consisted of heterogeneous functions and roles, the Park has been transformed from a political production to promote Seoul Olympics to a cultural arena for increasing middle classes in the south-eastern Seoul for the last twenty years. Over the years, it had to embrace diverse roles imposed or demanded by the public whose concerns and interests vary as time goes by. This study focuses on the roles of the public space and its relation to public sculptures. The two compete and reconcile as the society becomes affected by diverse ideologies. To illustrate these points, the thesis reads the Park's formative period between 1987 and 1988 when it was conceived and established to celebrate Seoul Olympics in 1988. By uncovering the archival materials and letters from the period, written by Pierre Restany, the French art critic, and others, this essay examines the Park's initial role as a forum to host the international artists' works semi-permanently and to become a landmark of Seoul. Yet, the role was difficult to accomplish even at that time. The various interests unprecedently expressed by many artists' groups and organizations in Korea made the process harder than the Olympic Organizing Committee first imagined. Compromises were made but the success of the park for outdoor sculptures was to face more challenges as the park become frequented by the increased number of people to attend concerts, meetings, and festivals. The thesis concludes with the idea that the roles of public sculpture in the public space are threatened and overshadowed by other social roles of the park as Foucault suggested. In the process, the dignity and autonomy of art is often forgotten and concedes to those other social roles.