Between the Croquis Poet and the Thick Rock

Dokkaebi, Earthenware Patterned Tiles, Treasure of Republic of Korea No. 343-3

1.

Where did the goblins go? If a broom that has been touched by a person for a long time gets soaked with blood, it comes to life and disappears into the dark forest. Those beings that appear out of nowhere wearing people's clothes but are human-like and unknown, like drinking and betting, and if you coax them well, they can become your friends. They are said to make the wicked and greedy suffer, and if you use tricks or treat them generously, they will make you rich.

The old forest is full of thoughts. Because we throw into the darkness our annoying emotions such as existential fear, helplessness in Providence, and the joys and sorrows of life. So what pops out of the forest is what we have thrown in. The goblins that used to live in the forest of our ancestors probably lost their places to go due to habitat destruction. Mythical beings feed on fear. If you can still fear the dark, you will soon meet the monsters that have disappeared.

Animism is unique and irrational, but the attitude of those who know how to fear something is usually similar. We are still materialistic beings belonging to the body. The carefulness with which we appeased and cultivated the capricious goblin's territory, or the meticulousness with which we cherish and tame things for a long time, ultimately have implications for us today, who have no choice but to respect nature and the environment.

2.

This site is a 'goblin site' located right next to a valley where the mountainous terrain pours down. Even without necessarily using the folk language of the time, it is a land where the wind blows away everything. The sentences that stand up and rage are given to the architect. Kim Soo-geun lifts up the pouring waterfall by planting two huge totem trees, and calms the site with black bricks like roof tiles.

The architect does not show any greed here. He hides the presence of the house with a narrow and long entrance and a lush forest. A building that is so carefully hidden that it cannot be seen from any road, even though it is in the middle of such a huge city, is a guest, ^{a Fremdes} . A woman who will stay on this land for a while and disappear. She will drink together and play all night and disappear like a goblin.

I think Kim Soo-geun in the 70s must have been hurt. Such fame could not have left him alone. This house is a cave where he crouches and observes the world. With only the minimum ventilation window, the house does not let in wind, sound, time, or the hustle and bustle of the world. What does he do under the waterfall? He stops speaking. He meditates and explores the source of meaning.

138 Sowol-ro

3.

Ordinary architecture would be to arbitrarily draw a line that does not exist, and to be as greedy as possible within the limits of the law, as if I were the owner of the land. The spirit of humanity has also been distorted, and architecture seems to serve only the legal owners as people. However, no matter how much you draw a line on the ground and build a high wall, the wind will rise and birds will fly in. The law that seems eternal can change tomorrow, and the power of man will end after death.

The virtue of architecture, which is full of regret as a guest in the world, is that it ages well. A building that has been tamed by the mountain wind and has been touched by people for a long time slowly takes on life, and becomes a beast that crouches on the ground. Architecture harmonizes with nature and also harmonizes with the people who visit it. Such a house is a goblin that connects us to the ground. If I act rashly in such a house as if I am the owner, I will be in trouble.

I wanted to resemble the regret that this beast has. After all, making clothes is the same. Clothes meet people as guests. No matter how much time you put into craftsmanship, it is difficult to just arbitrarily push into the ground and act as the owner. Guests must fear the ground and feel sorry for staying there. Only then can they grow old and stick to the ground with their own weight.

4.

The original owner of this road, now called Sowol after the poet, was Dutubbawi ^{the Great Stone} . It is said that women prayed facing the face of this rock while waiting for new life. The great rock is the embodiment of the mountain and a place of prayer to reach the gods. There is no way to know whether their sincere wishes really bore fruit, but we can imagine how desperate the prayers of those who had no way of doing anything on their own must have been.

The first thing I did when I set up my workshop here was to find a thick rock and put it back in. The rock is a lump of time that the earth has inevitably spit out. It lacks the clear beauty of a sculpture, so it is simple and ordinary, but it allows the viewer to savor the great cycle of time flowing endlessly. No other product has yet reached this level.

So the craft of those who have no other way is to pray every day. I don’t understand why infinity and the moment are the same time. I just put down my arguments and try to cherish and examine what time has left behind. Somewhere between the poet and the thick rock, our workshop is located. We are ordinary people who play a given role for a given time in an extremely small part of a distant cycle.