Peninsula

From Korean Cartography

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Location: Seoul, South Korea

Type: Sculpture

Material: Acrylic

Year: 2018

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Geographically, a peninsula is a piece of land surrounded by water on most of its border while being connected to a mainland from which it extends. From the mainland's perspective, the peninsula seems a convex and positive shape. On the other hand, from the ocean's view, the peninsula seems concave and negative. This project questions the undefinable positive and negative spatial forms inspired by Korean cartography. 

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Kim Jeong-ho, a Korean geographer/ cartographer made a Korean peninsula map, called Daedongyeojido, in 1861. He drew dozens of single-sheet papers of each part of the Korean geography and compiled them to make a complete map. Parts make up a whole. Likewise, I extracted the contour of a specific area as a piece on the traditional two-dimensional map. Then, I transformed it into a three-dimensional model with the area's longitude, latitude, and altitude. 

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Around the core structure, each piece supports the whole structure, dividing gravity without a joint system. 

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