By Honorary Reporter Volga Serin Suleymanoglu from Turkey
Photos = Kang Ik-joong and KCC in NY

Kang Ik-joong is a prominent artist who designed the Hangeul Wall project in collaboration with the Korean Cultural Center in New York (KCC). 

Completed after nearly 1 1/2 years, the project attracted interest from 8.2 million people online and around 7,000 submissions of sentences in many languages, 1,000 of which were translated into Korean for display on the wall.

Under the theme "Things I Love to Talk About," the installation work on Sept. 26 was unveiled at the KCC. Earlier on May 5, I interviewed Kang on the project and the following are excerpts from a follow-up written interview with him from Aug. 27 to Sept. 25.

Artist Kang Ik-joong worked on the Hangeul Wall for 1 1/2 years.

How was the preparation of the Hangeul Wall over the past few months?
We officially launched the project website in May. The last five months were exciting in seeing this grand project come to life.

The Hangeul Wall remained on my mind even when I returned to my Korean hometown briefly to hold a 40-year retrospective. The wall has had phases from its initial crowdsourcing to collecting words of wisdom from the public and planning, mock-up and physical builds. Consequently, I continued working on the background drawing for the wall at home, depicting two gigantic waterfalls (the Hudson and East Rivers), flowing around Manhattan. 

The Hangeul Wall project received interest from millions of people abroad and some 7,000 submissions.

Describe the attention and feedback you've received on the project.
Although I initially conceived and envisioned the Hangeul Wall as something appealing to many people, it ended up exemplifying successful teamwork. We collaborated with the KCC in New York, whose team managed the details, and LG, which provided cutting-edge technology to transform English into Korean word blocks based on my characters. Most of all, I congratulate the 7,000 participants from over 50 countries who contributed their work in such a short time.

Measuring 22 m high and 8 m wide, the Hangeul Wall displays 20,000 Korean letters.

How did you select the 1,000 expressions for the work from the 7,000 entries?

Although our initial plan was to select works by popular vote, we realized that those from people who learned about the project later received fewer votes due to reduced exposure time. This contradicted our primary goal of fairly highlighting the best among the 7,000 entries. So we modified our criteria based on a few attributes ranging from color and content to overall fit.

During this process, we allocated a portion of the 1,000 entries selected by me and the KCC. I chose around 100 sentences I deemed outstanding due to their cheerful and meaningful content, while a KCC committee did the same. The rest fit with our original plan and were chosen via votes. 

Which sentence stood out to you most and why?
I had lunch in May with classical pianist Cho Seong-jin before his Carnegie Hall concert. I asked him what advice he would offer the world, and he uploaded the phrase "Find my center and keep working forward." This response resonated with me as a powerful lesson. 

Do you plan another project to involve participants from around the world?
"Four Temples" is scheduled for release in late October in Cairo, Egypt, right in front of the Pyramids of Giza. It will feature four tall structures each displaying the lyrics of the famous Korean folk song "Arirang" in Hangeul, Arabic, English and hieroglyphics. The structures will also feature drawings by refugees from around the world including refugees from the Korean War. Unlike the Hangeul Wall, which collected contributions on its site, this project has engaged participants through social media, direct contact and workshops.

kalhong617@korea.kr

*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.