The construction site1 exists inherently as a process and a flow. It belongs to the ‘present’ situated between the future and the past, yet occupies space in reality without any assigned function or role. Clearly present in reality, the construction site possesses a spatiality adrift somewhere in the overlapping spacetime, absent from the present.
Functioning as a symbolic intermediary, the construction site symbolically showcases the transformation of urban space and the dynamic, reciprocal features of the city. In the contemporary era, individuals face the challenge of perceiving and interpreting the constantly evolving and transforming urban space. The construction site serves as a structural entity that implicitly and symbolically illustrates this phenomenon, simultaneously playing the role of an intervention that perpetuates questions about it.
The construction site exists as coordinates to deduce relationships that remain unchanged amid the changing landscapes of the city. These coordinates serve as invariants to interpret variable focal points while functioning as clues to elements that persist unchanged despite spatial and material transformations.2
- Photograph: Sinyong Park
- Text: Hyun Jung, Sinyong Park
- Design: Yongwan Jeon
- Translation: Art and Text
- Sponsor: Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation, Arts Council Korea, Gyeonggi Creation Center
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The term “Construction site” is typically defined as an area or piece of land where construction works are being carried out. Due to the potential ambiguity of the term “construction,” which can be interpreted as both a literal construction and as a “composition” or “structure” in artistic contexts, I have opted to use the term “construction site” in my work. Consequently, the inclusion of a construction site in my work can signify either “an area where something is being built” or “a composition or structure” employed to confine a specific space-time. ↩
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This content has been partially excerpted from a text outlining the conception of the project Construction Site in Public Spaces, which took place in Berlin from 2016 to 2018. ↩
