Gamcheon Culture Village
A great day for an outing - we took the subway to the "village" and wow! What a steep hill! It would have taken us hours just to climb up, so we took a cab to the top and spent the day wandering through the steep, narrow alleyways and climbing up and down crooked stairways. The weather was hazy, as we overlooked the bay below, but it didn't take away from the vibrant colors (purple! gold! red! green!) of the tiny shacks. We got lost meandering through the maze of blue-roofed monopoly houses and seafoam-green lego-block homes. We ran into murals of libraries and solar systems, planter boxes made out of pants, Salvador Dali-esque paintings, an authentic old handmade rock pile well, countless cars, and mostly people! - all kinds, enjoying the crowded craziness and ambience of a magical Alice in Wonderland kind of place!
After the Korean War, this "village" was a conglomerate of poor little shacks built out of any material people could find. The people kept carving little niches out of the hillside to make another place to live. Photographs in the "Museum" displayed the poverty of post-war Gamcheon when the inhabitants barely existed here.
In the 1970's, some people decided to make it an "Artist Colony" of sorts. Artists, some school children and other "wannabees" designed crazy art projects all throughout the village, using all different mediums. The outdoor "Art Exhibit" started to attract visitors.
They painted their houses wild colors, or painted murals or "tromp d'oeil" to catch people's attention.
Bryan stands in front of the Museum, painted to look like what you're looking at on a blue sky day.
This heart is made out of wooden "fish", painted by children. The fish shape is a logo for Gamcheon, and they are omnipresent throughout the village.
These sculptures look like birds from a distance, until you notice they have people heads.
This house is painted to give the illusion that you are looking down the street, but it's really a mirror image of the view across the street.
Is the little boy really doing a puzzle of the sky?
The Cardboard Collector lives here.
Narrow stairways like this actually have street names, and the houses all have addresses. Good luck finding the address you want!
The Little Prince stands to the right of the doorway.
These planters are made out of walking pants - some jeans, some pajamas, some ??
You can buy a heart, write a wish on it, and hang it anywhere on the roof.
The ever present electrical wires and clotheslines add to the "charm".
An old stone well that was used in the "olden days" (1970's)!
and the old pump below.
On the side of this house was this sign, below:
Watch your step!
More wooden "fish" on a lopsided multi-colored fence.
Amazingly, this was one of the few places we didn't get lost... however, we DID get lost going home - it took several hours and a 16,000 won cab ride. Whew!
