Art Sonje Center presents Kyodong Island Sound Landscape, Playing for Peace from 17 Nov to 3 Dec, 2017.

This summer, students from Graduate school of Landscape Architecture, Seoul National University visited Kyodong Island with sound artist ByungJun Kwon. Just below the military demarcation line, Kyodong island is located in a civilian controlled area in the neighbourhood of the Han River Estuary. With Kwon, students from Graduate school of Landscape Architecture, Seoul National University recorded the lost part of Kyodong Island and the peaceful moment of today. We now release the sound landscape of the island in the city center of Seoul.
Kyodong Island is located just below the military demarcation line in the neighbourhood of the Han River Estuary. The entire island is located in a civilian controlled area. It is only 4km away from North Korea, so if you go up to a high point, you can even see North Korea’s Yeonpyeong plains across the sea. During the Korean War, the island were where a lot of Hwanghae refugees had come down and missed their home town. Now, the 64th
anniversary of the ceasefire, the Kyodong Island is called the Island of Peace and attracts a great deal of attention from people. However, the sea of Kyodong Island is still beyond the fence line, and we still hear the warning
broadcast to North Korea from the Island.
The students only focused on the sound with their eyes closed. The students then heard the sound of history of the war and division. It was the sound of human suffering seeking for the peace. Students realized the reality of the Korean division that we all had forgotten. Student all took time to think about the way to go forward, wishing and hoping that this project could be a seed for a peace on the Korean peninsula. With the enlightenment and the wish, we made a story of Kyodong Island with the sound recorded. Above all, we tought that the sound of the neutral area sea surrounding Kyodong is the most important theme in this soundscape project.
The sea which all the force is forbidden, make us to look forward to some day in the future of North and South Korea when finally, the peace come to us. It also seems to draw the hearts of the family back in North Korea where we cannot go or reach. That the sound of the sea, and the water is the main theme of this story made out of the students.
The story begins with the sound of the memory of students when they first met the Kyodong Island. Also, we tried to express the all pains that Kyodong Island had to go through, with the sound of tension and fear. But on the other scene, we tried to tell the story of the daily life in the island by the sound of the laughing children, song of elders, humorous chats at the Kyodong market, which makes us a bit of joy and happiness. When the fainted music of reminiscent of the homeland by elders at the Mang Hyang plays, we hope the audience wishes feel the same as the elders and us.

Graduate School of Environmental Studies. Seoul National University

ByungJun Kwon, Jang Jun Ho, Kim GuenChae

ByungJun Kwon
ByungJun Kwon(1971, Seoul) has developed and secured a certain niche in contemporary (visual) art of employing his characteristic sound and media. He is currently a adjunct professor of art engineering at Sogang University.

Kim Guenchae
Kim Guenchae (1985, Daejeon) works in mechanical engineering since 2004 and expands the genre by leading a rock band and working as a recording engineer as well as a live engineer. He currently works as a recording engineer and continues the
experiment for the independence of sound.

Jang Jun Ho
Jang Jun Ho (1987, Seoul) started his music career as a singer-songwriter in 2010 and released five albums. Since 2015, he has been expanding his career as a music-based media artist and is currently working as a recording engineer and music producer.

Director
Kyung-jin Zoh, Jina Kim
Sound Director
In Je Lee
Image Editor
Yelin Jeylin Lee
Recording Team
Shiwoong Yang, Yeseul Yoo
Youn-a Lee, Beomtaec Lim
Jeewon Jung, Hansol Cho
Sound Map
Hye In Shin
Special Thanks to
Young Ae Kim, Hyung Gil Bang
Gook Mo Sung, Chang Ho Lee
Young Sun Han, Geumhwa
Students of Jisuck Elementary School