Gwangju City News

Reprinted with permission from Gwangju Metropolitan City Hall

Jeonil Building 245 Becomes “Hidden Tourist Destination”

Jeonil Building 245 was selected as a “hidden tourist attraction” for the fall season recommended by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization. Since 2019, the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization have been promoting the “hidden tourist destination” project to introduce new and seasonally (quarterly) tourist destinations that are open only for a limited period of time.

This fall season’s “hidden tourist destinations” received 2209 online applications in July alone, and seven tourist destinations nationwide were carefully selected by a committee composed of tourism experts such as travel writers and journalists.

Jeonil Building 245 was reborn as a space for the future that preserves the past and stories from the May 18 Democratization Movement. The selection committee evaluated it as a place worth visiting, with the life and history of Gwangju that goes beyond the bullet impact craters that are believed to have been caused by helicopter fire during the May 18 Democratization Movement in 1980, and selected it as the only hidden tourist destination to be selected in the in Gwangju, Jeonnam, and Jeonbuk area.

Jeonil Building 245 is open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. in the summer and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the winter. Among its attractions are “19800518,” a May 18 memorial space built around the original place where the bullets were shot from the helicopter during the May 18 uprising; the “Namdo Tourist Center,” where tourist information on Gwangju and nearby locations can be obtained; and the “Digital Information Library,” where DVDs and videos can be enjoyed through laptops and tablets, available from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Tours with explanations are available for the entire building or personalized for each area (19800518, Namdo

Tourism Center, etc.). Regular tours are offered five times a day for groups of at least 10 people. However, in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the number of tourists per tour is limited to 20.

Kim Jun-young, head of the city’s Cultural Tourism and Sports Department, said, “Jeonil Building 245, which contains a May 18 memorial space of the painful history in Gwangju, won the grand prize at the Korea Spatial Culture Awards and was selected as a hidden tourist destination by the Korea Tourism Organization. We will make more efforts to develop Jeonil Building 245 as a cultural and tourism resource representing Gwangju.”

After 52 months of remodeling, Jeonil Building 245 was opened on May 11 after being transformed into a multicultural complex called “Citizens Plaza” (basement to 4th floor); Gwangju Contents Hub (5th to 7th floor); and May 18 Memorial Space (19800518), and Jeonil Maru and Chimney Garden (8th floor & rooftop), which are observation and rest spaces.

For the fall season of 2020, the seven “hidden tourist destinations’ selected nationwide are as follows: 1. Jeonil Building 245, Gwangju 2. Seoul Hongje Yooyeon 3. Beteul Rock trails, Donghae City, Gangwon-do 4. Glass observatory at Yongchu Waterfall, Uilimji, Jecheon, Chungcheongbuk-do 5. National Ocean Science Museum, Uljin-guk, Gyeongsangbuk-do 6. Pyochung Temple, Miryang, Gyeongsangnam-do, Uri Ai Maeum Forest and National Miryang Weather Science Center, and Miryang Arirang Space Observatory 7. Jeju Seogwipo Healing Forest

Jeonil Building 245 Tour Application and Inquiries: 062-225-0245. Namdo Tourist Center Inquiries: 062-223-3631. 19800518 Inquiries: 070-7707-0056.

Gwangju Biennale

Exhibition Hall to Get Face-Lift

Gwangju City is initiating a project at the Biennale Exhibition Hall to raise the international status of the Gwangju Biennale, one of the world’s five biennales, and to make it a cultural tourist attraction. This year, Gwangju City has been selected for the “Visual Image Improvement Project for International Culture and Arts Events,” a pilot project sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.

The main contents of the project is to create a media facade to improve the night view by projecting media art images on the outside wall of the Biennale Exhibition Hall and a public design project to create an art space around the exhibition hall by removing existing walls in the square to create lighting sculptures and rest areas.

Plans consist of creating a structure (welcome sign) that welcomes visitors to the entrance and exit of the Biennale Exhibition Hall, an art platform aimed to improve the walking environment by expanding the street adjacent to the plaza of the Biennale, and a project to create a street illuminated with a city symbol to establish an image as a city brand in connection with the Biennale by installing night lighting and symbol lighting at the main entrance to the Biennale.

British industrial designer Karim Rashid, who has won the Daimler Chrysler Award, and U.S. graphic designer Paula Scher, who produced the Citibank logo, will participate in the Biennale’s art platform and welcoming5

structure project. Gwangju City; the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism; the Buk-gu District Office; the City Museum of Art; and the Gwangju Biennale Foundation finalized the basic plan in August after coordinating the details through working-level discussions for the project. Among the five projects, Gwangju City will complete the public design project to create an art space around the Biennale Exhibition Hall, and the remaining four projects will be assigned by the Buk-gu Office before the end of the year. The 13th Gwangju Biennale will be postponed to February due to the COVID-19 situation.

“We will continue to improve the landscape around the Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall and around the Asia Culture Center to create an artistic urban landscape suitable for the Asian cultural city of Gwangju,” said Kim Jun-young, head of the city’s culture, tourism, and sports office.

City Holds Gwangju Outdoor Advertising Awards Exhibition

Gwangju City held the 15th Gwangju Outdoor Advertising Awards Exhibition in Sangmu Subway Station from October 23 to 25 to improve the level of publicizing and establish an advanced advertising culture. Hosted by Gwangju City and organized by the Gwangju Metropolitan City Outdoor Advertising Association, the exhibition featured 75 works, including 13 creative advertisement models, 21 creative commercial designs, one aesthetic sign, and 40 drawings by the winners of the Children’s Pretty Signboard Drawing Contest.

A total of 218 works, including 60 works of models and designs for creative advertisements, 8 works of aesthetic signboards, and 150 works of pretty signboards by elementary school students were submitted to the outdoor advertising competition held from August to September. The judging committee composed of experts selected outstanding works from each category at the end of September.

The competition, which celebrated its 15th anniversary this year, contributed greatly to improving the quality of outdoor advertisements, as well as raising citizens’ awareness of commercial advertising and their confidence in outdoor advertisements. Kim Jong-ho, head of the city’s Architecture and Housing Division, said, “We hope that citizens will pay a lot of attention to outdoor advertising design, which creates a beautiful street environment and urban beauty, so that it can contribute a more beautiful street landscape.”