Cultural Festivals and Regional Identities in South Korea

Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 2004, volume 22, pages 619 ^ 632 DOI:10.1068/d350 Cultural festivals and regional identities in South Korea HaeRan Shin School of Policy, Planning, and Development, University of Southern California, 3172 South Barrington Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90066, USA; e-mail: [email protected] Received 30 August 2001; in revised form 29 July 2003 Abstract. This paper extends the literature in cultural festivals and urban methods to consider a case where the objectives of local government in holding a cultural festival exceeded economic development. In the city of Gwangju in South Korea, authorities initiated the Biennale exhibition to replace the troubling image of its political history with the new image of a city of art. This attempted transformation faced resistance from citizens who wanted to protect and develop Gwangju's own political identity and image. From 1995 to 2002, four Biennales were held. The Biennale, initiated to remove the controversial political image of Gwangju, became a place where Gwangju's history could be reinterpreted and its identity could be negotiated and defined by its own civil society. The Gwangju Biennale was initiated by the central government and the local governments in their effort to transform the image of Gwangju from `the city of resistance' to `the city of art'. I examine the process of how the four Biennale festivals developed between 1995 and 2002 (1) to reveal a dynamic cultural politics regarding the image of Gwangju, a changing interpretation of historical events surrounding the image, and a reconstruction of the spatial meaning of the 18 May 1980 uprising (Yea, 2002). The uprising, along with the history of isolation through regionalism in Korea, established the particular ìmageability' of the city. The objectives of the Gwangju Biennale include not only economic regeneration but also countering the city's controversial historically negative image, burdened with both its own political history and prejudices arising from the regionalism that is widespread in South Korea. I pay special attention to the fascinating process of how different interest groups recreated the image of Gwangju, in which some of the Western experiences were not only replicated but also reworked. The cultural politicking among competing interest groups has brought various changes to the exhibition themes and spaces. As a result, the Biennale, contrary to its initial purpose, has become intimately connected to the city's political history and image. Cultural festivals and the marketing of cities Place-marketing is a strategy of managing resources for the rehabilitation of cities, as well as a type of civic boosterism (Loftman and Nevil, 1996) that uses culture as a tool of economic growth. A city's image is critical in providing an environment attractive to highly skilled workers and such newly arising industries as those in the areas of advanced technology and culture (Sandercock and Dovey, 2002; Sassen, 1994).(2) (1) For the present research, I attended the second (1997) and fourth Biennales (2002) to conduct interviews and a survey. I also analyzed archives for all four Biennales, as well as the results of surveysöone done by myself and two by others. (2) For image-making, slogans such as Ì Æ New York', `Glasgow's Miles Better', and `Come to Pittsburgh!' (Holcomb, 1993, pages 134 ^ 137) along with visual representations are the most essential components of advertising (Ward, 1998, pages 54 ^ 55). 620 HShin The deliberate efforts of place-marketing strategy ironically standardize the image of cities and in many cases induce citizens' resistance (Neill, 1999; Sadler, 1993; Woodward, 1993). Formulating a standardized, imitative image of the city brings about conflicts between the government and residents who wish their cities' images to reflect their own culture and history. Increases in the numbers and spending of sightseeing travelers and the cultural turn of economics throughout the world have stimulated old manufacturing cities to shift their main industries to tourism and cultural festivals (Holcomb, 1993; 1994; Scott, 1997; Urry, 1995; Zukin, 1995). A cultural festival in particular plays three significant roles in place-marketing. First, a festival encourages existing residents to continue to live in the city by promoting local patriotism (Goodwin, 1993; Philo and Kearns, 1993). Second, a festival is itself an advantageous business.(3) Third, a festival can reshape or change the image of a city in accordance with the city-boosterism model (Griffiths, 1995). In this third role, a cultural festival, with a visible performance or exhibition, is a good opportunity to escalate the value of the city. In the city-boosterism model, a festival tends to include high art that makes urbane and elegant images, as was the case with the Gwangju Biennale. The objectives of place-marketing festivals in Korean cities were partly different from those in many Western cities, where the main motivation was to recover from long-term economic decline. Korean cities, largely free of such decline, accepted place- marketing strategy as an ideology of globalization, localization, and competition among cities. Korean local governments, borrowing Western concepts of entrepreneurial government, began to identify themselves as mutual competitors (Jung, 1995).(4) The image of Gwangju (5) The Gwangju Biennale festival,(6) the centerpiece of which is an international art exhibition, is representative of recent cultural festivals in South Korea intended to reshape the images of cities. In 1995, when Korean local elections were launched, new local governments began to make slogans, logos, and themes to represent their cities and planned a number of cultural festivals. The image of a `city of art', which the Gwangju government tried to impose through the Biennale, was one of the standardized images that a number of local governments pursued. The `cultural' and `global' festival in a `local' city was meant to show an emphasis on both international culture and locality. If the image is structured there are specific reasons, rooted in Gwangju's history, that led local governments to pursue such a strategy. Gwangju is the sixth-largest city in South Korea, with a population of about 1.4 mil- lion people in 2003 (Korea National Statistical Office http://www.nso.go.kr). Gwangju, located in the southwestern part of Korea, geographically belongs to the Jeolla (or Honam) region, one of the six main regions of South Koreaöthe others include Kyunggi, Kangwon, Chungchong, and Gyeongsang (or Youngnam) (figure 1). It is called (3) Among Korean cities, Pusan is a representative example of the ìntegration type' of place- marketing, and the case of Tae-Baek illustrates the `cultural business' type of place-marketing (Shin, 1998). (4) Place-marketing is `à broad entrepreneurial ethos or ideology'', not a specific action or policy for a certain area (Ward, 1998, page 3). (5) Both Gwangju and Kwangju are used for the city's English name. For example Yea (2002) uses `Kwangju', adhering to the McCune ^ Reischauer Romanization system commonly employed by Western academic Koreanists. However, in this paper I follow the official use of `Gwangju' in city government publications. (6) The Gwangju Biennale festival is a biennial festival which focuses on an international art exhibition. Cultural festivals and regional identities in South Korea 621 Seoul Kangwon Incheon Kyunggi Chungchong Gyeongsang Taejeon Taegu Jeolla Gwangju Pusan Jeju Figure 1. A map of six main regions and main cities of South Korea. a consumer city by media because the manufacturing industry is not active and consumption is high. The manufacturing industry has always been weak and the agricultural sector has been strong in Gwangju. Even as the city expanded, urban functions did not expand correspondingly (Kim M H, 1997, page 277). Gwangju's image has been that of the `the city of resistance',`the city of democracy', or even `the city of blood'. This controversial image was the very reason why the Gwangju government and citizens started place-marketing (Gwangju ^ Chonnam Citizens Forum, 1995). Since the 1980s, the Gwangju government has considered the image an obstacle to the economic development of the city, and so they opened a forum to discuss how to change it (Shin, 1998, page 92). The political history of Gwangju and strong regionalism toward the Jeolla region have made Gwangju ìmageable' (Lynch, 1960, page 9).(7) Even though there were no serious racial and ethnic problems, regionalism has operated with many consequences in the political arena and in people's daily lives. Central political authorities consisted of people from the Gyeongsang region for almost thirty years until Kim Dae Jung, a hero of the Gwangju people, was elected as the President of South Korea.(8) There has been a long-standing animosity between the residents of Gyeongsang (9) and Jeolla. (7) Lynch (1960, page 9) defines imageability as the ``quality in a physical object which gives it a high probability of evoking a strong image in any given observer.'' (8) Kim Dae Jung had failed in the presidential election three times mainly because of regionalism and his radical image. His eventual success in the election was attributed to his coalition-building with Kim Jong Pil, who led a conservative political party supported by residents of Chungchong province. (9) The Gyeongsang region occupies the southeastern part of Korea. Among South Korea's major metropolitan areas, Pusan and

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