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The 1st Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2017

IMMINENT COMMONS

In an age of environmental decay and unprecedented wealth inequality, the cities of the world gather in Seoul to explore the urban parliaments where the politics of resources and technologies is enacted. The Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2017 is an experimental platform for an imminent urbanism that goes beyond human-centered function, ownership, and consumption to a commons of resources, technologies, and production.

The cities of the world stand at a crossroads. Amidst radical social, economic, and technological transformations, will the city become a driving force of creativity and sustainability or will it be a mechanism of inequality and environmental decay? Cities are not only the drivers of social change but are now modifying ecosystems, geological structures, and even the climate. For the first time in history, the crucial questions of the city ― climate change, biodiversity, air pollution, food security, automation, unemployment and inequality― are driven by concerns beyond human control and threaten the very survival of the planet. The principles of modern urbanism ―the mass integration of production, employment, and consumption; the separation of work, dwelling, leisure, and transportation; the division between the natural and the artificial― are no longer effective at addressing the urgent questions of today’s cities. The traditional urban elements of buildings, streets, and neighborhoods must be reassessed within the emerging human and non-human urban constituencies.

Ten Commons
The inaugural Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism proposes ten essential commons as a viable path towards a sustainable and just urbanism. Emerging from both ecological and technological concerns, this framework foregrounds an exploration not of distant utopias but of the very near future. In other words, these emerging commons are already changing the way we live in cities. Whether met with fear or hope, they will very soon change the way we live in the city. The Seoul Biennale provides a Imminent Commons platform for an international array of participants - politicians, policy makers, experts, and citizens at large - presenting global research and engaging with local conditions.

Four Ecology Commons
Air, Water, Fire, Earth

Six Technology Commons
Connecting, Making, Moving, Recycling, Sensing, Sharing

Live, Urban Commons Seoul
Seoul is a grand laboratory for the imminent commons. Since its foundation that spans two millenniums, Seoul has been a dynamic site of the commons, where politics and economy intertwined with the design of wind and water. It is a metropolis that maintains the spirit, methods, productivity, and spaces of the commons. In 2012, embarking on new policies of horizontal governance, sustainability, community based design, and economic equality, the Seoul Metropolitan Government proclaimed its vision as a City of Commons. Breaking open the gallery walls, the Seoul Biennale activates an urban constellation of urban sites, and citizen activity towards three live projects: Production City, Urban Foodshed, and Smart Walking City.

SBAU 2017 General Director
Hyungmin Pai
Alejandro Zaera-Polo

Overview

  • Event Name
    1RD Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 
  • THEME
    공유도시 Imminent Commons
  • PERIOD
    2017. 9. 1. - 11. 5.
  • VENUE
    Donuimun Museum Village, Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), Historic and industrial sites in Seoul  Euljiro, Seun Sangga, Dongdaemun, etc
  • Public Programs
    Seoul Free Plan, International Studio, Film/Video Program, Lectures and Workshops, Shared Library, Global Chief Architect Forum

General Director

Hyungmin Pai

배형민_Hyungmin Pai
Hyungmin Pai is an architectural historian, critic, and curator. He received his Ph.D. from the History, Theory, and Criticism program at MIT. Twice a Fulbright Scholar, he has taught at the Rhode Island School of Design and Washington University in St. Louis and was visiting scholar at MIT and London Metropolitan University. He is author of The Portfolio and the Diagram, Sensuous Plan: The Architecture of Seung H-Sang, and The Key Concepts of Korean Architecture. For the Venice Biennale, he was curator for the Korean Pavilion (2008, 2014), and a participant in the Common Pavilions project (2012). In 2014, the Korean Pavilion was awarded the Golden Lion for best national participation. He was Visiting Director of the Asia Culture Center (2014~15) and Head Curator for the Gwangju Design Biennale (2010~11). He is presently a professor at the University of Seoul. He serves as a member of the Presidential Committee for the Hub City of Asian Culture, the Mayor’s Committee for the Future of Seoul, and is the chair of the Mokchon Architecture Archive.

Alejandro Zaera-Polo

알레한드로 자에라-폴로_Alejandro Zaera-Polo
Alejandro Zaera-Polo is an award-winning architect and a tenured professor at Princeton University. His career has consistently merged the practice of architecture with continued theoretical and academic engagement. He was trained at the Escuela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (Hons), and holds a Master in Architecture from the Harvard GSD (with Distinction). He worked at OMA in Rotterdam (1991~93), prior to establishing FOA in 1993, and AZPML in 2011. He was the dean of Princeton School of Architecture (2012~14) and of the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam (2000~5). He was the inaugural recipient of the Norman Foster professorship at Yale University School of Architecture (2010~11), and has lectured widely and internationally at institutions such as the AA School, Columbia GSAPP, UCLA, and Yokohama University. His texts can be found in many professional publications such as El Croquis, Quaderns, A+U, Arch+, Log, AD and Harvard Design Magazine, and many of them are collected in The Sniper’s Log (2012).

Curatorial Team

  • Youngseok Lee

    She is currently the director of Urban Index Lab and an adjunct professor in the Department of Architecture at Kyung Hee University. She served as a curator for the Video Exhibition and Medellin Exhibition at the 2015 Seoul Architecture Festival, as well as a curator and review committee member for the "Finding Beautiful Buildings in Seoul" initiative. Her other roles have included advisory committee member for the DDP Public Facilities Construction Project, coordinator for the Gwangju Folly implementation design at the Gwangju Design Biennale, advisory committee member for the Creative Convergence Classroom (STEAM) project by the Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Creativity, advisor and review committee member for the Gwangju May Road Project, and featured artist for benches at the Public Design Expo.

  • Jeffrey Anderson

    Co-curator of the Thematic Exhibition at the 2017 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism.

  • Helen Hejung Choi

    Hyejung Choi completed her Master’s degree in Architecture at Columbia University in the United States and subsequently participated in numerous public projects in New York, focusing on public housing design and collaborations with nonprofit organizations. After relocating to Seoul in 2005, she has been active as an architect, professor, researcher, and curator. She served as a curator for the 2011 Gwangju Design Biennale and as a senior researcher responsible for the architectural archive collection and planning at the Cultural Information Center of the Asia Culture Center in Gwangju in 2014. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture at Kookmin University.

  • Yerin Kang(SaA)

    Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2017 Live Projects Seoul : Curator of Production City.

  • Jie-Eun Hwang

    Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2017 Live Projects Seoul : Curator of Production City.

  • Hyewon Lee

    Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2017 Live Projects Seoul : Curator of Production City.

  • Soo-in Yang

    Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2017 Live Projects Seoul : Curator of Smart Walkable City.

  • Kyung Jae Kim

    Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2017 Live Projects Seoul : Curator of Smart Walkable City.

  • E Roon Kang

    Curator of the Citizen Participation Program: Seoul Free Plan at the 2017 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism. She operates Mass Practice, a design and research studio in New York, and currently teaches interaction design at Parsons School of Design. She studied graphic design at Yale University and worked as a research fellow at MIT’s Senseable City Lab under the Department of Urban Studies and Planning. As a TED Senior Fellow, she has spoken at the TED Conference in the U.S. and the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. She has also lectured at institutions including the Bauhaus University in Weimar, Germany, and NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP).

  • Wonyoung So

    Curator of the Citizen Participation Program: Seoul Free Plan at the 2017 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism. He is a designer focused on creating visual narratives through data analysis, with a primary emphasis on network visualization and mapping. He is also interested in developing systems for open creative no_no_no_no_no_no_no_no_expression. He graduated from the Department of Visual Communication Design at Kookmin University and co-founded the crowdfunding platform Tumblbug in 2011. Currently, he works as a data visualization research fellow at the MIT Senseable City Lab within the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology. His work has been featured and exhibited in The Atlantic, CNN, The Guardian, Wired, and the Seoul Museum of Art.

  • John Hong

    Curator of the Citizen Participation Program: International Studio at the 2017 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism. John Hong is an architect and a professor at Seoul National University, where he leads the design lab Project : Architecture. His work focuses on bridging the different scales of architecture and urbanism by integrating drawing, materials, theory, and computation. Before his appointment at Seoul National University, he was a co-founder of the critically acclaimed architecture firm SsD (2004~15) and served as an associate professor at Harvard GSD (2006~14). His projects have been featured in major publications such as Architectural Record, Metropolis Magazine, The New Yorker, and Space Magazine, and have been exhibited in international events including the Venice Biennale in 2014 and 2016. His work has earned 15 AIA (American Institute of Architects) Awards, the Architectural Record’s Design Vanguard, the Emerging Voices Award from the Architectural League of New York, and the Holcim Foundation's Sustainable Construction Award. Notable publications include Convergent Flux: Contemporary Architecture and Urbanism in Korea (2012) and Fragments of a New Housing Language: Contemporary Urban Housing in Korea (2016). He holds a Master of Architecture from Harvard GSD and a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Virginia.

  • Won-joon Choi

    Curator of the Film Program in the Citizen Participation Program at the 2017 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism. He is a professor in the Department of Architecture at Soongsil University, where he teaches architectural history, theory, and design. He graduated from the Department of Architecture at Seoul National University and received both his Master’s and Ph.D. in architectural history and theory from the same institution. He gained practical experience at Iroje Architects & Planners under architect Seung Hyo-sang and conducted postdoctoral research as a research fellow at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation in New York. He is involved in building a modern and contemporary architecture archive of Korea at the Mokcheon Architecture Archive and serves as the curator for the film program at the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism. His recent co-authored publications include Young Architect Award 2013 (2013), The Dictionary of Korean Architectural Concepts (2013), Convergent Flux (2012), and the Mokcheon Architecture Archive Series: Records of Modern Korean Architecture (2013~). His curated exhibitions include Sections of Autonomy: Six Korean Architects (2017).