Sayart.net - ‘Bubble, Dream, Void’ Examines the Ruins Produced by Seoul’s Redevelopment

A group exhibition examining redevelopment and the conflicting desires surrounding land and housing in Seoul is underway at The Necessaries in the city’s Yeonhui-dong district.

“Bubble, Dream, Void” brings together installation, painting and video works by Kim Jeawon, Yu Jiwon and Hwang Minkyu. Curated by Kang Dawon, the exhibition runs through Nov. 8.

The exhibition begins with a contradiction: people may oppose the destruction caused by redevelopment while simultaneously desiring the economic promise and improved living conditions associated with it. In this context, ruins are not treated as remnants of a distant past. They are spaces temporarily emptied, demolished or suspended while awaiting their next commercial or residential use.

The three words in the title describe both the property market and the attitudes formed around it. “Bubble” suggests brilliance and disappearance, “Dream” moves between hope and illusion, and “Void” may indicate either absence or temporary calm.

The Necessaries is itself located within Yeonhui District 2, an area designated for public redevelopment. This position allows the exhibition to approach redevelopment not only as a subject of representation but also as a condition affecting the space in which the works are shown.

Kim examines the history of Chinese Korean residents who settled in Yeonhui-dong following redevelopment projects in central Seoul during the 1970s. His work connects that history of relocation with the district’s current redevelopment.

The installation incorporates uprooted trees prepared for transplantation, known in Korean landscaping practice as “bundari” trees. Fragments of furniture, school uniforms and notebooks associated with the neighbourhood are placed within their bound root masses. The displaced trees become a model for lives required to adapt after being removed from familiar ground.

Kim’s drawings layer historical images of areas once occupied by Chinese Korean communities near Seoul City Hall with contemporary views of Hongyeon-gil. Water taken from the nearby Hongje Stream passes over water-soluble paper, causing past and present landscapes to blur.

Yu paints scenes from Nowon District, where she has spent most of her life. The area’s ageing apartment complexes and buildings are now undergoing or awaiting reconstruction.

Using traditional Korean painting materials on jangji paper, Yu combines fragments of construction sites and neighbourhood landscapes within a single image. Her paintings hold together two opposing responses: the hope that the area will develop and the fear of eventually being displaced from it.

Hwang presents “Liminal Property Tour” and “Liminal Apartment,” two videos assembled from footage recorded in 2020 before residents moved into a newly built apartment complex in Sadang-dong.

The first work explores the empty interior in the manner of a property viewing, while the second observes the building’s exterior from the apartment complex opposite it. Repeated expressions of admiration for the vacant rooms expose the paradox of imagining a fully occupied future from an uninhabited present.

“Bubble, Dream, Void” considers how redevelopment reshapes not only the physical city but also memory, aspiration and generational anxiety. Rather than romanticising abandoned places, the exhibition examines what their production reveals about Seoul’s continued commitment to growth and the losses concealed by that process.

The exhibition is open from 1 to 6 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. Admission is free. The Necessaries is located on the second floor of 80 Hongyeon-gil, Seodaemun District, Seoul.

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Jason Yim yimjongho1969@gmail.com