The Real DMZ Project is a contemporary art project that seeks to interpret and the multi-ed significance of the DMZ and its adjacent areas. Beginning with a site-specific exhibition held in 2012 along the Cheorwon Security Tour Course in the central frontline area of Gangwon Province, the project has been expanded every year to include a variety of experimental exhibitions and academic forums.

“Claims of Victory” (2015) by Magnus Bärtås is a video installation highlighting the different ways the Korean War is commemorated at the respective war museums in Pyongyang and Seoul.

The DMZ is a contradictory space. On either side of the military buffer zone designed to serve as a de facto border dividing the Korean Peninsula, the two Koreas have maintained a frail truce, still aiming their weapons at each other. Left untouched for decades, the area has a clean ecosystem featuring rare species of animals and plants, but it is also the most heavily fortified border in the world, where a military contingency could occur at any time. In the vicinity, however, ordinary people go about their daily lives tilling their fields in the South’s northernmost villages, located within the civilian control zone just below the southern limit line of the DMZ. This contradictory nature of the DMZ, rather than its political and military implications, is the focus of the Real DMZ Project.
Kim Sun-jung, curator and representative of SAMUSO: Space for Contemporary Art, who conceived and organized the project, explained its intent: “The parties to the armistice agreement of 1953 were the United States, the United Nations, North Korea, and China; South Korea was excluded. Reflecting on the past when we were so passive in our own affairs, I hoped this project would help us take the initiative in reinterpreting the significance of the DMZ.”
I met Kim to discuss the DMZ as perceived by the participating artists.

The Division of Korea Revisited
Ko Mi-seok Why the DMZ? What made you choose this place of conflict as the venue for an art project?Kim Sun-jung In 2008, I organized an exhibition of the Japanese artist Tatsuo Miyajima on the theme of this border. The event involved taking photographs of people whose bodies were painted with the numbers 3 and 8 to signify the 38th parallel north, which forms the border between South and North Korea. The photos were taken against the backdrop of Imjingak Pavilion in Paju, Taepung Observatory in Yeoncheon, and other spots in the border areas. While researching relevant social issues in planning the exhibition, I realized, with much remorse, that although I am Korean I knew hardly anything about the DMZ and had taken no interest in it.
Later, I planned a 10-year project with the aim of archiving records and artworks on the DMZ. The participation of both domestic and foreign artists was taken into account from the beginning, and our direction in research and planning was determined accordingly. The scope of the project has been extended to include a broader range of topics, such as varied notions of the Military Demarcation Line, sociopolitical conditions resulting from the division, and entailing environmental issues. A complementary event to the on-site exhibition is held at Art Sonje Center in Seoul, which includes performances, talks with the artists, workshops, and other activities.

The project’s main venue is Cheorwon in Gangwon Province. This central inland county briefly fell under the jurisdiction of the Soviet Military Administration when the borderline was drawn along the 38th parallel, soon after Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945. Since the county straddles the inter-Korean border, with one third of the DMZ stretching across it, its southern part is the territory of the Republic of Korea, and its northern part the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. During the Korean War, Cheorwon was a vital strategic area for securing the central front, and also the site of one of the fiercest battles, known as the Iron Triangle. Located in the heart of the Korean Peninsula, it had prospered as a transport and logistics hub before it was practically devastated during the war.

Interaction with the Locals
Ko What has changed over the years since the start of the project?Kim In the first year, the exhibition was mostly held in places near the border with rather limited accessibility, such as a section along the Cheorwon Security Tour Course or deep inside the Infiltration Tunnel, and ran for a shorter period of time. Unlike most regular exhibitions that are based on existing works, the project has featured mostly new works produced specifically for our exhibition. To make this possible, participating artists need to take some time to learn about the DMZ. It seemed a shame to close the exhibition so quickly when the works had taken so long to . So, we have modified the event and eventually transformed it from an exhibition held in a restricted area, which required authorized entry, into a local activity open to everyone. An art project that receives financial support from the local government, it should have been more accessible to the local community. So, in 2015, we moved the venue to the town of Dongsong, which is readily accessible for locals and soldiers on leave.

Curator Kim Sun-jung (far right) talks with contributing artists for the Real DMZ Project on the site of an icehouse from the Japanese colonial period, which was destroyed during the Korean War save for part of the walls.

Ko WIt seems the change was intended to enlarge the scope of the project from the border itself to the everyday lives of the people living in the border areas.Kim As a public art project in a public place, we are concerned with continuity. That’s why we don’t treat it as a one-time event, but seek to get closer to the residents every year. “The Real DMZ Project 2015: Lived Time of Dongsong” took place at various sites around the town, such as the marketplace, Catholic church, bus terminal, and empty buildings. Moving from the restricted area near the civilian control line out to the town with commercial and cultural facilities, we came into closer contact with the residents. Ko Is the residency program at a village in the civilian control zone an attempt along the same lines?Kim The Yangji-ri Residency was launched in 2014 in the village of the same name. The program encourages artists and scholars from Korea and abroad to live and work on site for the exhibition. A deserted house in the village was renovated for this purpose, and 10 or so artists have participated in the program so far. A small village d in the 1970s for propaganda targeted at North Koreans living on the other side of the border, Yangji-ri now has about 130 residents in 75 households. At first, the villagers and the artists were on somewhat awkward terms with each other, but they’ve gotten so close that some residents are helping the artists to grow their own food. An Argentine artist, who likes to hold barbecues with his neighbors, is filming them for his video work.

Cellist Lee Ok-kyung offers an impromptu performance “Broken Sky” in an abandoned rice mill in Yangji-ri, a village in the civilian control zone, during the Real DMZ Project 2014.

Differing Perspectives of Outsiders and Insiders
Ko It seems that the project is trying to achieve both regional originality and global universality while dealing with Korea’s special situation.Kim As in the case of the DMZ that divides the two Koreas, the world at large may share an interest in the issue of borderlines formed by the complicated workings of armed conflicts and international circumstances. Until its unification in 1975, Vietnam was divided into North and South by a DMZ running along the 17th parallel north. Germany was also divided into East and West after World War II before the border was erased with the fall of the Berlin Wall. The DMZ between Syria and Israel and the border between Iraq and Kuwait have been installed in accordance with United Nations Security Council resolutions. Whether physical or psychological, the theme of borders — or anything dividing land, or people for that matter — is always relevant. With the Cold War far behind us, this is also apparent in today’s raging conflict over cross-border refugees. Ko Are there any differences in the interpretations of the DMZ between Korean and foreign artists?Kim Korean artists who received anticommunism education in school tend to make a conscious effort to see familiar situations from a new angle. Artists from other countries understand the DMZ on their own terms, approaching it from much wider perspectives. As they share an interest in such concepts as state, nation, ideology, and border, the artists try to find a way to combine the DMZ with topics of their own interests. They are also keen on identifying features unique to Korea — such as the military culture. You can’t grasp the whole picture when you see it only from the inside. Placed between cold war and hot peace, the DMZ needs to be seen from the outside or from international perspectives in order for its complexity to be fully understood.

“Ice Cream Hill” (2014–2015), a video installation by Aernout Mik, portrays the divide and conflict between South and North Korea using the story of a group of young people on an excursion to Sapseul Peak near the DMZ that is ruined by tension.

Noteworthy Works
Ko Could you introduce some of the works that you found to be especially impressive?Kim “Ice Cream Hill” by Aernout Mik from the Netherlands is a video work commissioned for the project. In the film, which took a full year to produce, the ice cream is a metaphor for a certain mountain that looked as if it were melting under heavy artillery fire during the war. The work shows how this place with a beautiful hill has been charged with grave historical meaning.
Magnus Bärtås from Sweden has been applauded for “Claims of Victory,” a video installation that combines footage taken in two museums — the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul and the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum in Pyongyang — to illustrate how the conflict between the two Koreas is portrayed in the respective countries. While the museum in Pyongyang showcases actual relics from the Korean War, such as real tanks and jeeps, against a grand backdrop painted by 40 artists, the museum in Seoul features dioramas using special effects that resemble computer games. The artist highlights the contrast by projecting the distinctly different video images onto two adjacent screens.
In addition, the German novelist Ingo Niermann wrote 11 scenarios for a unified Korea, entitled “Solution 264-274: Drill Nation,” based on his visits to both Koreas. He gave a public recital of the first chapter of the book, which he had started writing during the 2014 project to publish in 2015. I especially remember what he said in an interview: “I got the impression that South Korea had developed the DMZ as a war tourism product, while North Korea had turned the entire country into a war theme park.” Ko I guess that most foreign artists had seen the DMZ only in the media before actually visiting the area. When they arrived at the DMZ, what caught their attention?Kim The artists looked at it in their own ways. Some were attracted to the natural environment of the DMZ as a valuable ecosystem. Others wanted to convey an envisioned future in their works, imagining, say, a house where South and North Koreans live together, or an installation built through their collaborative work.

The photo installation “To Survive vs. Once Arrived” (2012) by Noh Sun-tag includes a set of photographs taken from the rooftop of the Peace Observatory in Cheorwon, which commands a panoramic view of the Pyonggang Plateau in North Korea. The photo of a sign warning against taking photos and that of the rear view of a soldier are on display on the same spot where they were taken. The photographer says, “In the South, the border area has become a popular tourist attraction among Koreans and foreigners alike. What would be the duty of those who visit this peculiar place? It would be to see, to take pictures.”

Ko Could you describe some of the works by Korean artists as well?Kim “Korean artists encouraged viewers to ponder on our past history and current lives, and the coexistence of tension and everyday life. Lim Min-ouk presented an archive of records on 300 people who were allegedly massacred on the site of the Waterworks Bureau in Cheorwon after the war. Koo Jeong-a d an installation on the Peace Plaza using basalt, a characteristic element of land formed by lava. Former photo journalist Noh Sun-tag presented ary-style photographs, including images of tourists visiting the infiltration tunnels in the DMZ, taken from behind. But nothing beats seeing the works for yourself. I hope more people will come to the DMZ to see, feel, and think about how and why this project deals with regional problems on an international level.

Through the DMZ project, Kim Sun-jung has developed a channel for collaboration of visual arts, architecture, music, humanities, and social studies. This year, the regular exhibition will be skipped to prepare for next year’s “Pavilion Project,” which will facilitate permanent preservation of the works. Kim is also determined to keep the project going past its initial 10-year target.
As a research platform to enhance understanding of Korea’s modern history, the Real DMZ Project ultimately aspires to offer a vision for world peace and coexistence by integrating local and global perspectives. If it succeeds in these goals, the project will provide us with an opportunity to reflect on not only the physical borderline of the DMZ but also the invisible, psychological barriers in our own minds.