Oval Camp
2019, exposed concrete
Yongma Waterfall Park, Seoul, Korea

30m * 20m / 471m²

The public artwork <Oval Camp> is made based on the story of a citizen, Won-bok Lee, who told us about a story from his childhood. Lee and his friends organized ‘Tae-geuk 13-dan’ whose hideout place was at Yongma quarry, hiding from adults. His story is about the struggle he had to face to climb up the cliff to become the leader amongst his friends.

Opened toward the cool waterfall and the blue sky, the round floor is a new hideout or a camp for those who became adults to gather again, which is reinterpreted by Jung Ji-hyun, the artist who unfolded the quarry’s deep cave into a gentle slope. As we walk through the narrow passageway to the camp, we get out of our everyday struggles for a moment and soon arrive at the spacious round waterside square with serene surface of water. Surrounded by waterfalls, <Oval camp> is above the surface and invites us, just like time machine, to a cozy hideout from our happy childhood.

The pattern carved on the surface of the work is result of ‘Wave Drawing Workshop with Citizens’ which took place in July 2019. These patterns created by citizens were reflected on the artwork, which demonstrates that the work has started with the story of citizen and has been completed with citizen participation.