Visiting More Stamp Spots

This past weekend, I spent some time visiting more of the stamp locations. I now only have one more spot in the English stamp book, and I'm at 18/30 in the Korean book.

On Saturday, Gianni and I checked out the two spots I

The artist studios

still had to visit in the downtown section of the Korean book:
Hyanggyo Confucian Academy and the Art Factory. The places themselves were a bit outside downtown, so we did a lot of walking that day. The Confucian Academy has been rebuilt a few times as well as moved from one location to another. It now stands on the exact location where it was first built in 1398. It was burned down in an invasion by the Japanese in 1592. It went back and forth between two locations for a while but was moved back to it's original location in 1932. It is an extremely old and important place. Confucianism, for those of you who do not know, is not a religion. Confucianism is a set of philosophical beliefs that many Asian culture believed should be used to create a better society. Rulers used Confucian principles to govern, and family members followed Confucian ideals to create better family life. This is an academy where students learn these Confucian beliefs. Unfortunately, Gianni and I went to the academy when there was a traditional wedding happening! Because it's such an old place, weddings are really popular there I guess. In one respect, it was cool. We saw the bride in her beautiful dress and face ornaments. She even had a box for her to be carried down the aisle by four men! What a classy entrance! On the other hand, we were both extremely uncomfortable because everyone there for the wedding was dressed nicely, and we really weren't. I basically just rushed around taking pictures and ran out of there. We walked downtown from

Daegu Art Museum

there, and I gathered pictures for my newest blog post for colorful daegu about bingsu places down there. After that, we walked a bit more to get to Daegu Art Factory. We had no idea what we were in for there, but it turned out to be a really awesome place. I guess Daegu is a really important place in Korea for art and culture, which is interesting considering Daegu is also the most conservative city in Korea. The Art Factory has 5 floors. On the third floor, there was a kids room and an information room about art in Daegu. The second floor was an art book shop. The two top floors are the most interesting. They are the studios for various artists. I'm not sure how they get a spot, but each room is a different studio. You get to see the artists as

Dancing and Art Performance

they create new works, and it is a really cool way to be able to see tons of different kinds of artists all in one space. In addition to getting to see some really cool, new art, they also hold performances in some of the spaces on those floors. While we were there, we heard an explanation of the paintings and works by a group of artists. It was all in Korea, so we couldn't understand, but the guy doing the explanation also performed a really great song he had written in Korean. He befriended us and talked to us for a little while. Apparently, his song was about getting over his mother's death. We were also lucky to get to see a really cool artist's performance. He painted as dancers danced to music. The small paintings he did were projected the wall in the back of the room. It was really cool. It was a really awesome experience, and it seems like the work and performances at the Art Factory are constantly rotating, so it's definitely a place to visit often



On Sunday, Gianni was too tired to indulge my whims, so he stayed home and relaxed. I was a woman on a mission. I went alone to the National Museum and the Art Museum, which are both pretty far away from our apartment. I went to the National Museum first. I got my stamp at the info desk and started to ask a question in English, and I was immediately directed to a woman at another info desk. The woman at the desk was Mrs. Park, and she and I became fast friends. She helped me buy tickets to the LIFE exhibit that is being held at the National Museum at the moment, and then basically walked me through it, discussing Korean and American life and politics. She kept asking me if I knew the famous people in the photographs, and I told her what I knew about

a very intricate design on a bride's gown

the history of certain time periods. She was a lovely woman, and I'm really glad to have met her. She, apparently, does tours around the city and works at other info booths in other parts of Daegu. She kept remarking about how I have "a great spirit." The LIFE exhibit was spectacular. I've seen so many of those famous pictures from history classes through the years, and getting to hear about them and see them in person was wonderful. So much of life and history encapsulated in three rooms. It was almost overwhelming. After the LIFE exhibit, Mrs. Park went back to man her station, and I went looking around the permanent section of the museum that you don't pay to see. The museum itself is not that impressive. It is comprised of three rooms: ancient history of Daegu, Medieval history of Daegu (and the influence of Buddhism and Confucianism in society), and textile history. As someone who is very interested in history, I did find these sections interesting, but I think I would have been a bit disappointed if that was all I had seen.

Here's a bit of history for you guys:
Daegu was developed as an administrative center for Korea because of it's convenient placement in the peninsula. In 1601, a government office was established to administer to the province. Daegu became an independent province in 1981. Archeologists have found remnants of Buddhism in the province dating back as far as 57 BCE. The Confucians scholars had more influence in the Gyeongsang-do province, which Daegu had been a part of, than in other provinces in Korea. This might be part of the reason Daegu is among the most conservative cities in the country even today. It was actually interesting to get to learn a bit about Confucianism after we visited a Confucian academy the day before. Seowon is the name for Confucian Academy in Korean. At Seowon, they are supposed to educate young Confucian students and honor great Confucian scholars in seasonal ceremonies. During the Joseon Dynasty, Confucianism truly flourished in Korea. In terms of textiles, the color of one's clothing was an indication of statues. During the Joseon period, a system of colors to correspond with principles of yin and yang and the five elements. These principles are all used in oriental medicine still today. The five colors are red, yellow, blue, white, and black. Hanbok, traditional Korean dress, was also developed during the Joseon Dynasty. The wedding ceremony was once seen as the most important ceremony in a person's life. It was so important, in fact, that commoners were even allowed to wear the royal style of dress to mark the occasion. The groom typically wore blue and the bride wore a red dress to symbolize the principles of yin and yang.

After I was done at the museum, I went and ate my the sandwich I had brought along with Mrs. Park, and she gave me some coffee. She was so surprised I was doing the stamp book and really impressed with home much I had finished. We talked for a while before I finally excused myself to get to the art museum.


Gianni and I went to the art museum before, and the view was even more stunning that I remembered. It's built on a hill, and you can see layers and layers of mountains. I say layers because there are mountains close to the museum as well as those far away, so it really is a lovely spot for a museum. I found the exhibits the first time we went more interesting than this time. The last time we visited was for an exhibit by a Japanese woman. She had created fabulous and interactive installations that let viewers into her brain, in a way. She is a woman in her 80's who has suffered from mental problems throughout her life, which she encapsulates in her art. You could really see it in all of her work, so she really made me feel what it was like to be her. The exhibits in the museum,

The really cool communication project

abstracts

and the featured artists, change quite frequently. There are only ever about 4 exhibits on display at one time, and the main one is always on the first floor of the museum. The artist on display this time was Zhang Xiao Gang. He did a lot of his work during the 1990's, which was during the Tiananmen Square protests. His work is about his opinions of modern China. He paints a lot of pictures of faces with oversized featured and blank expressions. There were other artists on display on the upper floor. One was a really cool communications project. They had two people holding the same pen answer questions like their age, gender, job, etc. Both had to fight the other's force on the pen to write their own answer. It was really cool to try to make out both of the works in the pictures. Another large room featured sections by 4 artists, each with a pretty different style. I really enjoyed the colored in some of the abstract paintings by one of the artists.

I only spent about a half hour at the art museum, actually. Then it was time to head home because I was beat!